Link to the article: science.org/content/article/…

Fear of retaliation in academia goes well beyond our workplace. During the Lindau meeting, Kurt Wüthrich (Nobel prize for NMR) argued against the meeting’s focus on diversity and even mentioned that discrimination against men is real. Here, I would just cite the statistics that says it all: only 60 women become Nobel Laureates, compared to 892 men. Now, I want to draw your attention how Science describes a comment from one researcher: - Another attendee who asked not to be identified over FEAR of damaging his career, tells Science he looked forward to the meeting for the peer networking opportunities: "I also want to learn some life lessons from these excellent laureates about navigating a research career and how to be a responsible scientist. We’re not discriminating against white men — we’re criticizing the system, but they take it very personally.” As you see, this attendee didn’t say anything that can damage his career. He didn’t say anything bad about his advisors, funding agencies, department, etc. He just said he is against the system that doesn’t help women in #science become equally represented. And yet there is fear. Real fear of getting retaliated against. Unfortunately, this dark side of academia is so common that many people think it’s a norm. This is not about one specific researcher. This is about all of us, the scientists and educators: Academia is a place where people are afraid of saying any statement in public that someone may find questionable or system-damaging. Even one on one, VERY few people are ready to discuss issues in academia. Scientists are not afraid to discuss science! But we become paralyzed when the topic is about academic environment. There is a tiny faction of researchers who are not afraid. Yet the vast majority stay in total silence. Many seem afraid of their own shadow. Please, BE brave! Don't just focus on your own research in your labs. Take a stand. Remember, your words hold power. They help reshape the system. #AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter