Abstract

Tickets are available for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science-tickets-15669763685

Prof Gail Davey (1984) will introduce the evening by recounting her experiences as one of the first women scientists at Pembroke. She will then be joined by a panel consisting of Prof Simon Baron-Cohen (developmental psychologist and Director of the Autism Research Centre), Prof Anne Davis (applied mathematician and University Gender Champion), Dr Patricia Fara (historian of women in science and Senior Tutor at Clare College) and Dr Liberty Barnes (sociologist researching gender issues and fertility) to discuss the possible social and biological causes of the gender discrepancy in the scientific fields.

We will be exploring questions such as: Considering that girls and boys are equally as likely to study STEM subjects right up until A-Level, can the later discrepancies be put down to gender stereotyping in their first few years of life? What is the cause of the apparent ‘leaky pipeline’, where women are lost in large numbers at every stage between undergraduate and professorship? Do you think we can give any weight to the ‘difference feminism’ perspective? Whether or not women have an equal aptitude for science as men, do their preferences differ?