Only Women Speakers at Microbiome Conference

Article here. Excerpt:

'A three-day conference that features two days of talks given only by women scientists kicks off today (February 26) at the University of California, San Diego. The line-up was intentionally designed to highlight the work of women.

“We have decided to demonstrate that it is possible to have a large representation of women presenters in a scientific meeting by inviting only women speakers,” an announcement about the event on a university website says.

Gender imbalance at conferences has become a pressing issue with some male scientists declining opportunities because of the lack of women speakers.

Not everyone is happy with the decision to have an all-female slate of speakers. A Wall Street Journal opinion piece argues that a “ban on male presenters” violates the University of California, San Diego’s (UCSD’s) student code of conduct, which prohibits “conduct (e.g. harassment) that is so severe and/or pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so substantially impairs a person’s access to University programs or activities that the person is effectively denied equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities.”'