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Geneva (AFP) – The European physics laboratory, CERN, on Monday disavowed a conference given by a guest scientist who claimed that physics was "built by men" and accused women of seeking specialized jobs without proper qualifications.
The presentation of Alessandro Strumia from the University of Pisa was presented Friday at the Geneva laboratory during a workshop on the relationship between the theory of high energy and gender.
The presentation – which includes various slides, diagrams and graphs – seems to suggest that men face discrimination in the field of physics.
A pictorial series suggests that women line up to undertake gender studies and then to protest the lack of jobs in stem fields, a generic term that covers areas such as chemistry and engineering.
"Physics invented and built by men is not by invitation," says one slide.
"CERN considers that the presentation made by a visiting scientist at a workshop on high energy theory and gender is very shocking," the laboratory said in a statement.
"So he decided to remove the slides from the repository online, according to a code of conduct that does not tolerate attacks and personal insults."
CERN, the French acronym for the European Center for Nuclear Research, is headed for the first time by a woman director-general: Fabiola Gianotti, an Italian expert in experimental particle physics, took office in 2016.
The laboratory said that despite efforts to fill its own gender gap, women still held less than 20 percent of the workforce.
The lab notes that it has supported initiatives to increase women's participation in science.
"Diversity is a strong reality at CERN and is also one of the core values of our code of conduct," the statement said.
"The organization is fully committed to promoting diversity and equality at all levels."
