A few weeks ago, my classmate and friend collaborated with the Telegraph to write an article concerning the comments of Sir Tim Hunt, regarding female scientists. For those who are unaware of what occurred, the British Nobel laureate, whilst at a lunch in South Korea, stated that women scientists caused problems in the lab, as they keep falling in love with their male colleagues, or vice a versa. It's interesting that the female scientists are blamed both for falling in love, and being so utterly irresistible that others fall in love with them, taking responsibility for both their actions, and the actions of their male lab mates. Furthermore, Hunt stated that women are also more sensitive, and more likely to cry when their work is criticized, another unfortunate aspect that every women across the world obviously shares, making them even more of a hardship to work with. Surprisingly enough, my friend, as a female student of science, does not agree.
The good news is that the enormous outcry in response to Hunt's comment means that it definitely falls outside the norm. Instead of being accepted, people of all genders, have responded to Hunt's observation, loudly, and in some cases, angrily. He resigned from his position as laureate, which some feel a punishment too harsh, figures such as Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, and Richard Dawkins verbalizing their concerns. Interestingly enough, the individuals that seem to support Sir Tim are male. Whilst some female scientists do believe that he has been too harshly punished, the general consensus from those who are the actual object of Hunt's comments is that they are attitudes that are more suited to a prejudiced prehistoric era.
To combat this apparent attitude that women are too distracting to share the same laboratories as their male counterparts, there has, as usual, been an amusingly apt reaction on the social media site of twitter. The hash tag 'distractingly sexy' spread like wildfire, with female scientists tweeting photos of them posing with the lab equipment of their workspace, demonstrating how obviously off-putting they can be. Photos were included, but not limited to; A fully body Hazmat suit, being covered in mud whilst on a field expedition, and portraits of famous female scientists from days gone by, such as Marie Curie. You know, the woman who conducted pioneering research into radioactivity, which led to such things as radiology treatments for those who suffer from cancer.
This incredibly heteronomnative attitude of women distracting men while they work is, sadly, not restricted to the labs, or even the adult world. The dress code perpetuated in many American schools, whilst in some cases, reasonable, does often result in completely unfair punishments being doled out to young girls. Forcing a girl to go home and change her appearance solely because it is believed it will distract the learning of boys teaches one thing; their education is more important than hers. If there is any gender bias in any occupation, the reason can almost always be traced back to schools. Happily, the outcry against comments such as Sir Tim's means that attitude's are strongly set against such beliefs, meaning that hopefully, little girls with a passion for science, will be able to explore it.
Image: http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1444915/sir-tim-hunt-gets-nobel-backing.jpg?w=736
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