Pacific Standard, 20th July 2018
At the recent meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the science body of the United Nations, there was an unusual announcement halfway through the week: a reminder to the scientists present that this was a meeting of experts, and that everyone's expertise must be respected.
You’d think it would have gone without saying. Every six years, the world's top climate scientists convene to write reports on the physical science of climate change, its impacts, and how to mitigate it. This particular meeting was in Guangzhou, China, where the lead authors of the physical science report would begin drafting their latest plan. But despite the distinguished participants, there had been troubling reports of sexist behavior taking place at the gathering, where women's expertise was being diminished or ignored—hence the unusual mid-week intervention.