I feel sorry for Sir Tim Hunt. He’s the Nobel-prize winning scientist who made world headlines last week for his observations about the “trouble with girls” in the lab; that they cry and fall in love.
His comments were disastrous. That they were delivered at an international conference during a talk he was asked to give on the topic of women in science compounded the significance of his misguided remarks. So too did his seniority.
If a leader as established and well regarded as Sir Hunt can express this type of sentiment, whether it was careless or intended, what hope do female scientists have of being easily accepted in labs, offices and universities? This isn’t a hypothetical dilemma. Females in science face an enormous challenge in establishing the same credibility are their male peers and Hunt’s comments illustrate why that’s a live issue.
Having written and overseen the publication of commentary outlining the damage in Hunt’s remarks, how can I possibly feel sorry for him? How could I not?
Having read an interview with Sir Hunt and his wife Professor Mary Collins, one of the most senior immunologists in England, I feel genuine sympathy for them both. Who wouldn’t? Being in the eye of a controversy of that magnitude would be horrendous to endure. And exacerbated, no doubt, by the fact Sir Hunt has a demonstrable reputation at home and at work for supporting female scientists.
Sir Hunt’s professional integrity is in tatters, he’s been forced to resign from several of his public appointments, they’ve had photographers and media crowding their home and Professor Collins has been threatened with an expose about her private life.
“Tim sat on the sofa and started crying,” Collins explained about the second day of their living nightmare. “Then I started crying. We just held on to each other.”
Reading that cracked my heart; what a dreadful experience you’d wish upon no one. Am I a total hypocrite for saying that? I’d argue not. As always it’s the grey – not the black and white – that’s difficult to appreciate.
I didn’t criticise Sir Hunt’s remarks because I harbour any malice towards the man himself. I don’t. I do, however, harbour little tolerance for overtly sexist attitudes. Why? Because those attitudes ensure the ongoing survival of sexism.
As tempting as it might be to construe the public shaming of Sir Hunt as explicitly cruel and concerted, would that be fair or true? Were the hundreds and thousands of men and women who expressed their disapproval at his ill-considered words, motivated by a desire to tear an individual to shreds? Or were they motivated by a desire to tear the blatant sexism in his words to shreds?
It might seem a tenuous distinction, but consider the alternative. What if Hunt’s comments had gone without a reaction? What if no audience member in Korea had tweeted his observations and they hadn’t attracted any attention? A room full of the world’s science journalists would instead tacitly accept them as the norm. Whether perceived as a joke or a sincere reflection is by the by because the outcome is the same. The outcome is that either sexism in science is a laughing matter or female scientists are less credible than male ones. Both scenarios are problematic.
Sir Tim Hunt is not responsible for science’s gender problem. No single person is. But the broader problem, in which Hunt has been caught, is that if leaders in any field fail to grasp the sincerity or the enormity of the task in overcoming gender inequality, they will be found wanting. As Jerry Seinfeld noted last week there is far less tolerance for joking about sexism. That is something that’s changing; social media might even be responsible for accelerating that change
It isn’t heartening that an individual is suffering because of delivering a few ill-conceived remarks. The trouble is that for far too long, far too many less visible individuals have been suffering the consequences of those ill-conceived sentiments. Once upon a time a leader could joke about sexism and get away with it without consequence. That time is gone.
The lesson is to speak sincerely and speak wisely.