Not Beach Huts

This hoarding was, at blipping hour, the one spot of colour on a November day when it seemed the world might be shutting up shop, so cold and bleak did it seem as we ventured forth to buy some paint.

This was the last day of the exhibition "The Cradle of Chemistry" in the University Library, celebrating 300 years of the teaching of the subject at Edinburgh University. I swithered about going and raking up that part of my life almost forgotten, but curiosity won.

I was not sure what to expect and was imagining a huge space filed with all sorts of historical laboratory equipment and photos. I suppose it was too much to ask for my class photo to be displayed and in that I wasn't disappointed. But I was disappointed in the poor lighting in the display cases which made reading letters almost impossible.

What did ring a bell with me was the film interviewing people involved in Chemistry who said that despite everything being equal in ability and research, it is still harder for a woman to be promoted.
In industry it was only in 1970 that a bill for equality in pay was passed and even now apparently women lag 14% below men in their wage packet.

As new graduates in the 60's, we women found that some big chemical companies such as ICI would not even interview us for jobs.
We had been treated equally in school and at university as undergraduates and post graduates but were personae non grata in the work place because of our sex. Teaching seemed the only viable alternative for those who could.

Much has changed since then for the better. There is still a way to go, but it is heartening to know that a woman, Prof Polly Arnold, holds the Crum Brown Chair of Chemistry in my Alma Mater.

"Surrounded by beakers, by strange coils; By ovens and flasks with twisted necks; The chemist, fathoming the whims of attractions; Artfully imposes on them their precise meetings." Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907) French Poet and Nobel Laureate.