Let’s all be worried about problems that don’t exist

Cern scientist Professor Alessandro Strumia is under fire. Speaking at a Geneva workshop on gender in physics, Strumia argued men in physics face discrimination and lose out on jobs to women on the basis of ‘ideology, not merit’. He described those concerned about discrimination against women in physics as ‘worried about problems that don’t exist’.

His audience of young, predominantly female physicists had come together to exchange ideas and their experiences on how to encourage more women into physics and to combat discrimination only to have Strumia discredit their experiences and say: ‘physics was invented and built by men.’

Dr Donna Strickland

In 2018, Dr Donna Strickland, a Canadian scientist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics: she is the third woman to receive the prize in the history of the award—and the first in over 50 years. Did mainstream media hear about that? No—we were all focusing on what one man said. Cern—which currently has its first ever female director-general—released a statement to say the organisers were unaware of the content of the talk prior to Strumia’s workshop.

Strumia isn’t the only scientist to make sexist comments as women continue to struggle in male-dominated sciences; in 2015, Nobel laureate Prof Tim Hunt resigned from University College London after telling an audience of young female scientists in South Korea that ‘the trouble with girls’ in labs is that ‘when you criticise them, they cry’.

Leaving the blatant sexism aside for a moment, the concerning statement from Strumia is that those concerned about discrimination are ‘worried about problems that don’t exist’. Here’s the thing: men don’t see these things.

The greatest privilege is not having to think about things. Marginalisation runs both ways—true, but this ignores the context. It’s much easier to avoid situations where white, middle-class, educated men are marginalised than those in which black women are. No one wants to have to think about privilege or discrimination or harassment, but when your stigmatised environments are ubiquitous and costly, you have to think about it. This is the situation women in physics find themselves in: they don’t want to be the token woman on a team, they don’t want to be handed a job to fill a quota, and they certainly don’t expect to. They shouldn’t have to defend their research, or their grant requests, or their methods—and heaven forbid the frustration from constant criticism should lead to the occasional bout of tears in a lab.

Nearly all women are aware of privilege but (compared to women) men can avoid the implications of their privilege and remain blissfully unaware of its existence. To educate those men: privilege is a right or benefit given to some and not others. It is the result of the societal conditions a person is born into—it doesn’t take much to be underprivileged (a lack of a male appendage will do it for you) but this lack of privilege often leads to a seemingly insurmountable mountain of limited opportunities and doors slamming shut. Having privilege does not mean an individual is immune to life’s hardships, but it does mean that individual has an unearned benefit or advantage by nature of their race, gender, sexuality, religion, socioeconomic status, country of origin, language, education…

The privileged in any setting want to believe their lack of stigma is earned (‘physics was invented and built by men’) and not a matter of chance. Men sitting at the top of any field is the result of conscious bias and marginalisation—check your privilege. 

But men didn’t choose to have the privilege they have any more than women chose not to; possession of privilege is something to feel grateful for and to use to benefit others. The more privileges you have, the more likely you are to be listened to and taken seriously; use what you have to fight for the rights of the more marginalised. More rights for others doesn’t mean fewer for you. ■