Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Hello everyone. Hope you had a strident day being strident. The Chief Scientist hates it when women in science talk about inequality because it detracts from "progress." 49% of undergrad STEMM students are women. Only 21% of senior professors of STEMM are women. #StridentWomenpic.twitter.com/orCs1j4cQE

Apologies I wasn't able to do a full transcript of this last night, I was too busy being strident, but let's break down the Chief Scientist's comments, right after #StridentWomen shared harrowing stories of discrimination in science organisations (TW SH: http://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pgE6JgBMDV?play=true …)pic.twitter.com/quLsPPbReq

<Women talk about inequity> Chief Scientist: "I would urge that everybody acknowledges the progress. I personally find it frustrating if I hear something strident complaining about the situation today without acknowledging that there has been progress..." #StridentWomenpic.twitter.com/pIG6TPEYZP

Chief Scientist: "Acknowledging progress doesn't mean you're ready to give up. We also need to also think about the way we look at the numbers to make sure we're not setting up the situation such that we're misunderstanding the nature of the problem." #StridentWomenpic.twitter.com/K5LdovK7IM

Chief Scientist: "STEM doesn't formally include life sciences. And I can tell you there's a chance through the university, through the medical faculty graduations, I'm mostly shaking female hands" #StridentWomen know better than to use anecdote to negate evidence but please go onpic.twitter.com/Q537sWpWie

Chief Scientist: "So in the life sciences, medicine, a HUGE percentage of the graduates coming through are female. In engineering it's more extreme the other way around. But we've got imbalances within professions we have to decide is that NECESSARILY A BAD THING?" #StridentWomenpic.twitter.com/15qugpoJ8D

Sometimes my #StridentWomen mind can't decide if inequality is *necessarily* a bad thing, but here's the numbers. In medical sciences & health, 72% of undergrads are women. But only 33% of senior professors are women. Don't want to be strident, but that's the opposite of "huge"pic.twitter.com/28E4nARFZ8