A report in Nature for September 9 refers to the launching of a debate on the world wide web in which the discrimination against women researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in German universities, and in different national government agencies will be discussed.
Women are inadequately represented at senior levels in many scientific establishments. This proves frustrating to many science graduates and also wastes scientific potential in economically important technologies throughout the civilised world. An additional, though controversial, argument is that, if there were more women scientists in positions of influence the range of research would be widened, with greater emphasis upon the societal challenges posed by scientific applications.
Certain points have to be considered. For example, the rearing of young children remains predominantly the concern of women, and few politicians would venture to suggest adopting the machine minding portrayed by Aldous Huxley in his ‘Brave new world'. Accordingly, the needs of the family have to be reconciled with the responsibilities of a career in science. Industry has faced this hurdle better than academia, and it is not insuperable.
However, there is no excuse for expecting women to have lower salaries than their male counterparts, or to carry less prestige in their departments, or to be given less laboratory space and meaner financial grants. Discrimination is a major obstacle when employers have women researchers, and progress against deep-seated discrimination, established over generations of scientists, remains regrettably slow to evaporate.