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Is physics sexist against men?

Amber Thomas
At a recent CERN workshop on gender and high energy physics, Professor Alessandro Strumia of Pisa University told the audience "People say that physics is sexist, physics is racist. I made some simple checks and discovered that it wasn't, that it was becoming sexist against men and said so...Oxford University extends exam times for women's benefit...Italy offers free or cheaper university for female (research) students". He also said that he himself was overlooked for a job that he was more qualified for, which was given to a woman.


He produced a series of graphs which, he claimed, showed that women were hired over men whose research was cited more by other scientists in their publications, which he says is an indication of higher quality. He also presented data that he claimed showed that male and female researchers were equally cited at the start of their careers but men scored progressively better as their careers progressed.


He told his audience of young, predominantly female physicists that "physics was invented and built by men, it's not by invitation". He said his results "proved" that "physics is not sexist against women. However the truth does not matter, because it is part of a political battle coming from outside".


What are your thoughts on his views and do they reflect your experiences working in STEM fields? And was he the right choice of speaker for an event such as this?


Read more in: "Cern scientist: 'Physics built by men - not by invitation'" available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45703700
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    And as the story continues to unfold, more than 3,000 physicists have signed an open letter condemning Strumia's talk.


    "We write here first to state, in the strongest possible terms, that the humanity of any person, regardless of ascribed identities such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, disability, gender presentation, or sexual identity is not up for debate... Secondly, we write to strongly express our view that the science case presented by Strumia was fundamentally unsound...Finally, we would also like to underline how grossly unethical it is to misrepresent the topic of one’s talk to workshop organizers to promote an agenda which is antithetical to the workshop itself. To personally attack one of the organizers during said talk is even worse."


    Read the open letter in full (and add your signature) at: https://www.particlesforjustice.org/
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    And as the story continues to unfold, more than 3,000 physicists have signed an open letter condemning Strumia's talk.


    "We write here first to state, in the strongest possible terms, that the humanity of any person, regardless of ascribed identities such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, disability, gender presentation, or sexual identity is not up for debate... Secondly, we write to strongly express our view that the science case presented by Strumia was fundamentally unsound...Finally, we would also like to underline how grossly unethical it is to misrepresent the topic of one’s talk to workshop organizers to promote an agenda which is antithetical to the workshop itself. To personally attack one of the organizers during said talk is even worse."


    Read the open letter in full (and add your signature) at: https://www.particlesforjustice.org/
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