ABSTRACT
In popular parlance, women and science do not appear to go together. Few people can name many women scientists beyond Marie Curie, and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, journal and newspaper articles abound commenting both on the loss to individuals and the nation when women desert or do not enter science and on the difficulties of even highly reputed female scientists being honoured by their community. 1 Yet the central significance of science in our lives and the ethical decisions that have to be made concerning the uses to which scientific discoveries are put makes it imperative that all sectors of the population not only have an informed understanding of science and who makes it but also are represented in the ranks of those who lead the research and those who make the decisions.
