原文

“Unfortunately, we are all only too familiar with the sexual stereotypes of how people are viewed in either leadership positions or at times of stress. To hear these preconceived judgements about women in science coming from one of the UK’s Nobel laureates in science is a great disappointment. Scientists should be judged on their ideas and the quality of the experiments they do to prove them, not on whether they express their human emotions.

“Science needs many personalities and their creative ideas to make progress for society and humankind.  Why dismiss half of our creative workforce without giving them an equal chance to prove themselves?  Believing in a hypothesis without testing it is the anathema of good science.  Tim Hunt clearly needs new role models to challenge his self-confessed chauvinism and improve his after-dinner speaking.  Perhaps Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, should have a word in his ear. He clearly doesn’t know about the government’s requirements for future biomedical research funding to only go to those institutions that embrace the Athena Swan Charter (to support women to reach their full potential in science) – otherwise his protégées influenced by his mentoring style may find themselves short of grant income in the future. “

原文

 “The challenges faced by women in science still remain as major obstacles to career progression and personal development. In the modern age we tend to experience non-concious gender bias, so it is particularly disappointing to hear comments that seem to stem from another era. The only positive side to this whole debacle is it puts this key topic back on the agenda and is being debated in the mainstream media for probably the first time.

“It can only be hoped that it will highlight to the general public how important and challenging it is for female scientists to be treated as equals in what remains a male dominated profession, particularly at the senior end of the spectrum.”