Royal societies not recruiting enough women, say MPs

Women and ethnic minorities are not fully represented in the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering and both bodies could do more to encourage a wider membership, a committee of MPs said in a report released today.

The number of female fellowships awarded was "disappointing", the MPs' report said, with women making up 44 of 1,203 fellows of the Royal Society (3.7 per cent) and 15 of 1,270 at the Royal Academy of Engineering (1.2 per cent).

Both societies were "laying themselves open to criticism" by failing to monitor the ethnic origins of their fellows, members of the Science and Technology Committee of the House Commons said in the report, entitled Government Funding of the Scientific Learned Societies. In particular, the Royal Society should monitor the ethnic mix of its scientific fellows to counter claims that it was an "old boy" network of white males.

The MPs also criticised the Royal Academy of Engineering for failing to monitor ethnicity in contravention of "good practice" recommended by the Commission for Racial Equality. "The absence of ethnic monitoring either of their fellows or of senior scientists and engineers makes it impossible to judge whether they are representative," the committee said.

It added: "While these are independent bodies, we believe bodies in receipt of public funding should meet standards expected of the public service in terms of inclusiveness and transparency." The committee found the failure of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering to recruit more women was in line with the wider problems of attracting more girls and women into science and engineering.

Both organisations should consider introducing more "family friendly'' features and reassess their selection procedures to identify obstacles to the success of female applicants. Ian Gibson, chairman of the committee, said: "Bodies which receive public funding must accept public scrutiny. Much of the work done by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering is excellent but they must be more open in the way they work and in their selection of fellows."

The Royal Society receives an annual government grant of £28.75m and the Royal Academy of Engineering £4.77m. Both organisations are hoping to receive more money next year because of an increase in the science budget.

The Royal Society has been stung by criticisms that it is a select club of middle-aged, white males mainly from Oxbridge and London universities who nominate their friends to become the 42 fellows elected each year.Of this year's intake, four were female scientists. Lord May of Oxford, president of the Royal Society, said that proportion was of the same order or slightly better than the proportion of women in the senior ranks of science and engineering.

A spokesman for the Royal Society said yesterday that the issue of ethnic monitoring would be considered at its next council meeting.