On 10th June 2015, renowned physiologist and Nobel laureate Sir Tim Hunt, a man who "was always immensely supportive of the ERC’s work around gender equality" (Dame Athene Donald) was forced to resign from his post at University College London and later from the European Research Council.

The reason? His jocular observation that men and women tend to distract one another when working together in laboratories:

"Let me tell you about my trouble with girls... three things happen when they are in the lab... you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry!" Source: The Guardian, Article by Robin McKie, 13/06/2015

He then continued: "Now seriously..."

Aside from the jokey context, the deliberate irony everyone seemed to miss was that Sir Tim met his own wife whilst working in the lab!

In addition: “No one seems to mention his main speech in Korea in which, according to the ERC President, he was ‘very supportive towards women in science and he said that he hoped there was nothing that barred women from science'" (Dame Athene Donald).

Please follow the petition link to read more. Also please share this petition on Facebook and elsewhere; help us hit our target of 2000 signatures! We have over 1200 signatures so far, including comments from feminists, professors and former students & colleagues of Sir Tim.