Female scientists from all over the world have taken to Twitter to post pictures of themselves with tools and equipment from their workplaces alongside the hashtag #girlswithtoys. The pictures are being posted in response to an unfortunate, off-the-cuff comment made by CalTech professor Shrinivas Kulkarni during an NPR interview. "Many scientists, I think, secretly are what I call 'boys with toys'," said Kulkarni, a professor of astronomy and planetary science. While the comment was a blunder by Kulkarni rather than a targeted attack, for many it also exposes the ingrained sexism that goes unacknowledged in the science and technology industries. If nothing else it perpetuated the myth that science and tech are men's pursuits.
To remind Kulkarni and the rest of the world that scientists are not just "boys with toys", however, the female scientists of Twitter struck back using the #girlswithtoys hashtag as their calling card. The resulting slew of pictures serves as a reminder of the role women are playing in science and technology, but also provides an insight into some of the awesome toys they do get to play with.
We expect Professor Kulkarni is regretting his words today and may well have some questions to field from his students and female colleagues at CalTech. The rest of the world, however, gets to appreciate these truly joyful pictures of women from across the scientific community totally ruling at what they do.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I got to play one of the Keck telescopes and it was AMAZING! #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/TJcxcO8dJR
— Ivelina Momcheva (@iva_momcheva) May 17, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Oh look! Here comes the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) Project Scientist. #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/rhi1Ln3a6B
— Lisa Harvey-Smith (@lisaharveysmith) May 17, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Hey look I'm helping build a new dark matter detector. #GirlsWithToys http://t.co/jE92aUbpJO pic.twitter.com/gk25jvxsM0
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) May 17, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
#GirlsWithToys Me at JPL with the engineering twin of the @MarsCuriosity rover, which I help drive on Mars pic.twitter.com/qgCu17m3sC
— Dawn Sumner (@sumnerd) May 17, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Catching radio waves with the IRAM 30-meter dish #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/ugetcko4oa
— Stephanie Juneau (@StephaJuneau) May 18, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
on top on one of the VLA antennas back in 2004 #girlswithtoys #followyourdream #astronomy pic.twitter.com/D2lp835Et4
— Eleni Vardoulaki (@EleniVardoulaki) May 18, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Catherine Walker/Brittney Schmidt prepping to launch their Icefin robot http://t.co/dP2WDsOQQY http://t.co/hZa75qZX0I #girlswithtoys
— Kirk Englehardt (@kirkenglehardt) May 18, 2015</blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In mass spec lab now reading the #girlswithtoys stream. This awesome toy is a thermal ionization mass spectrometer! pic.twitter.com/bGF8T7pbz5
— Rita Parai (@HeNeArXe) May 16, 2015</blockquote>
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
