A correlation between having a beard and being a professor has been uncovered by scientists, suggesting a reason for discrimination against women in academia. A study of 1,800 male academics has revealed professors are twice as likely as lecturers to have bristles. The survey, which appears today in The Pharmaceutical Journal, was done by doctoral students Sarah Carter and Kristina Åström who were inspired by an "impressively hairy" supervisor at the University of London. "Sixteen members of our 18-strong research group are female. Would we, and do we, face discrimination?" they asked.
The answer appears to be yes. While 10.5 per cent of lecturers were bewhiskered, the figure rose to 13.6 per cent for senior lecturers, 16.7 per cent for readers and 21.4 per cent for professors. One theory is that being unshorn makes men more likely to be appointed to professorships, as facial hair is linked with high testosterone and aggression. However, one well-known bearded professor, Sir Alec Jeffreys, said yesterday: "I grew my beard back in 1968, out of laziness and to cover a sulphuric acid burn on my jaw incurred during a home experiment that went awry." |