The diversity challenge

’Not enough toilets.’ Decades ago, this was apparently put forward as an argument against hiring women at a university science department. Today, the notion is so preposterous it seems hard to imagine these views persisted within our lifetimes. Yet this was one of the anecdotes shared at a Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) event, Celebrating diversity in the chemical sciences, which was held on 13 November to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Marie Curie’s birth.