A blog by EC member Jane Symons
If Ada Lovelace were alive today, what would you ask her? That was the question put to a roomful of women in STEM celebrating Ada Lovelace Day at her extraordinary Horsley Towers home — now a five-star hotel and conference centre in Surrey.
Amid those which highlighted the huge advances in the way women are perceived and the opportunities now open to us, sadly, there was also no shortage of suggestions around glass ceilings and entrenched misogyny.
Two thoughts came to my mind. What would Ada have made of the fact that the question: “What is a woman?” would come to be seen as a ‘gotcha’ to be dodged by politicians? And could she ever imagine a time when men would claim to be women?
It also got me thinking about how much, and how little, women’s lives have changed — and the challenges women in STEM, and elsewhere, continue to face.
‘Tension of the mind’
Ada lived in an age when eminent (male, obviously) scientists and medics claimed that men and women had different brains and that thought could be dangerous for women. Augustus De Morgan, her tutor at the University of London, wrote to Ada’s mother warning, “The very great tension of mind which the pursuit of mathematical studies requires is beyond the strength of a woman’s physical organisation.”
In his book Sex in Education; or, A Fair Chance for the Girls — published in 1873, more than two decades after her death — the Harvard professor, Edward H. Clarke argued that women’s education should be limited because studying during menstruation or puberty could cause infertility and “nervous collapse”.
I doubt there is anyone alive today who would not think both notions are laughable.
Gendered brain
Yet we live in a time when some academics still promote the theory of a gendered brain, and claim that a man who identifies as a woman has a more feminine brain than a male whose gender identity aligns with their sex. (1, 2)
Vandalism of the conference centre hosting the recent FiLiA conference shows there are still those who believe that women and thought are a dangerous combination.
Basic biology is now, seemingly, a matter of debate. And women who question the ideology and beliefs driving this are routinely vilified or sanctioned for trying to assert their belief in science and evidence-base health care and sex-based rights.
Cass Review
The Cass Review and Supreme Court ruling reiterating that sex means just that, and not a self-determined gender identity, are making it easier for women, and men, to engage in open debate. But there is clearly a long way to go.
One of the many extraordinary women I chatted to that day told me how difficult it was for women in STEM to obtain funding for entrepreneurial ventures. And she spoke of her frustration at seeing males who have built careers and business with the benefit of male privilege subsequently ‘transitioning’ and being celebrated as shining examples of women in STEM.
If we are serious about equality and encouraging women and girls into STEM subjects and careers, then shouldn’t we first ensure that we are clear about what a woman is?
And as the two-part Sullivan Review (3) and a recent report on NHS data collection published by the Women’s Rights Network (4), the conflation of sex and gender have serious implications for healthcare at both a patient and population level.
There was another thread to Ada’s story which also highlights how little some things have changed. This brilliant woman’s life was cut short by what was referred to, at the time, as uterine cancer, when she was just 36.
Horsley Towers, where women met to celebrate Ada’s life, is a testament to the devotion of her husband, William King (later Earl of Lovelace). He added a series of covered walkways, a walled garden, private chapel — and even a secret door from her bedroom — to enable the increasingly frail Ada to engage with the outside world when she was able.
Huge advances
As we walked in Ada’s footsteps, exploring some of the areas not yet open to the public, I was mindful not only of the huge advances that have been made in cancer diagnosis and care, but also of how poorly we still are at diagnosing and treating some cancers — particularly ovarian cancer.
How many of us have written about this “silent killer”, while listing the half a dozen or so red-flag symptoms — abdominal pain, bloating, bowel changes, indigestion, loss of appetite, urinary changes, nausea and weight loss — that, in combination, often scream ovarian cancer.
How many women are told their symptoms are due to late-onset IBS, when this is relatively rare? And how many women are not listened to when they return to their GP practice raising concerns?
Yes, we have come a long way since Ada’s time. But there is still a long road ahead for women, and women in STEM.
With thanks to the De Vere Horsley Estate.
References:
- Kurth F eet al; Brain sex in transgender wsomen is shifted towards gender identity, J Clin Med 2022)
- Kreukals B, et al; Neuroimaging studies in people with gender incongruence, Int Rev Psychiatry, 2016.
- Report 1: Review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender; Report 2: Barriers to research on sex and gender
- Incoherent and Unsafe: How the NHS’s failure to reliably record sex puts patients at risk, Women’s Rights Network, 2025