The Girls’ Schools Association has assembled a formidable display of brainpower for its conference in London this week, from Professor Dame Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, to Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the Oxford astronomer, to the aptly named Dr Sue Ion, director of technology at British Nuclear Fuels.
Girls do science, OK? And leadership (Laura Liswood, secretary-general of the Council of Women World Leaders). And business (Barbara Cassani, of Go and Olympics fame). Oh, and government (culture minister Tessa Jowell). Not a single male speaker is gracing this conference. So will it be a totally man-free zone? Not quite. There are about 20 male GSA heads out of 206. In recent years, says the membership secretary, each batch of 12 or 15 new heads has included a couple of men. We think it’s infiltration and should be stopped now.
