Clare, Pam, and Susan on stage in the yurt (photo credit Jo Young)

Last Thursday Edinburgh Napier University microbiologist Dr Clare Taylor and her co-presenter Dr Pam Cameron (NovoScience) welcomed a sell-out audience to the yurt in Edinburgh’s St Andrew Square at their Fringe show Women! Science is not for you! Over the course of an hour they highlighted evidence to show how the gender balance in science careers shifts in the favour of men the further you look up the career ladder. They discussed the reasons for this, considered whether or not this is a problem, and debated possible strategies to bring about change. A key question is how to stem the flow of wasted talent that escapes from the “leaky pipeline” of women in science, as identified in the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Tapping all our talents report of 2012.

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