Universities today are well-known as places where progressive, hyper-liberal politics predominate. It’s only logical, therefore, that the cry for equality and diversity should now extend to the television programme University Challenge.
Despite the current series witnessing the second-largest proportion of female competitors in the programme’s history – with 34 female contestants representing a 31 per cent of its total – and the gradual disappearance of all-male teams, this is not sufficient progress for some campaigners.
But what if television, or the make-up of the workplace, actually does reflect nature, not nurture?
Liz Tucker, former chair of Women in Film and Television, said a 31 per cent representation was still not good enough, bearing in mind that almost 57 per cent of undergraduate students are women. ‘I’ve watched episodes in recent years when there have been no women,’ she told the Times. ‘You wouldn’t expect to see such a discrepancy in other environments, so what does it say? It suggests that women are less able.
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