ABSTRACT
To be in a university science department comprised only of men, which the author saw in three different universities, two of physics and one of chemistry between 1979 and 1989, is so statistically unlikely as to warrant the questions why and how. He had not thought about the gender of the supervisor; he picked the project. He presume therefore that unconscious gender bias did not apply to him. In 2007, the author was asked by the School of Chemistry head of department at the University of Manchester to be the school’s gender equality champion. Identify and challenge any potential gender bias in its evaluation procedure and monitor possible changes in gender structures following of its grants. Achieve in the medium term gender balance among its peer reviewers and other relevant decision making bodies, with a minimum participation of 40% of the under-represented gender.
