“There is a lot still of unthinkingness and I have to say this is in the UK. This programme will go to many countries, particularly in southeast Asia, where there aren’t these kinds of issues; where it’s perfectly normal for women to do engineering, physics, science, what have you. But, it’s a cultural thing and the English-speaking countries in particular tend to be on the poor side.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s something to do with cultural history. It may be something to do with defensiveness by the males. But what has happened, I judge, in southeast Asia for example, is the government has seen they need all the scientific and engineering talent they’ve got, so they make sure that it’s perfectly okay for women to do science and engineering. And it shows.”
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