Seoul National University (SNU), the largest public university in South Korea — where I have worked for nearly 40 years — has roughly 22,000 undergraduate students and a similar number of

postgraduate students. Around 36% of undergraduates, and 49% of postgraduates, are women. The university’s 450-odd full-time female faculty members, by comparison, account for 19.7% of the

total. As of 2022, nationally, across the academic, government and industry sectors, just 23% of the research workforce is female. COMPETING INTERESTS The author declares no competing

interests.