<b>Kanika Datta:</b> Are women and votaries of women's rights exceptionally thin-skinned?

We know that sexism is alive and kicking but there is, undoubtedly, a case for my sisters to cultivate more equilibrium and a better sense of humour

These are perilous times to be politically incorrect, as Nobel Prize-winning scientist Tim Hunt discovered earlier this month. His clumsy joke about women scientists being a distraction in the lab - apparently because men fall in love with them, snicker, snicker - was ill-judged enough. That he chose to deliver it at a lunch attended by journalists and organised by the Korea Federation of Women's Science and Technology Associations was, like, seriously dude? No surprise, he invited vicious opprobrium on social media and the remark cost him his job as honorary professor at University College London (UCL); he also resigned from two other prestigious scientific posts.

When the more sober commentary followed some women columnists and several of Hunt's women colleagues suggested that the response was overdone. He is 72 years old, the general drift went, and belonged to a generation in which such antediluvian attitudes were common. Like many of his age, his exposure to women was limited - he went to an all-male school and college, for God's sake, one said. One commentator sensibly recommended that instead of sacking him, the ageing sexist prof should have been sent to rehab. Some female colleagues attested to his support for gender diversity in the lab. His wife, who is also a highly respected scientist at UCL, agrees that it was "an unbelievably stupid thing to say" but insists he isn't a dinosaur.

Okay, we get it, he's just an old man prone to gaffes. Which raises the question: are women and votaries of women's rights exceptionally thin-skinned?

Certainly Sir Tim may find kindred spirits in Lawrence Summers and Narendra Modi. The first memorably suggested, in a 2005 closed-door forum, that there are innate differences between men and women when it comes to scientific ability. Dr Summers, who was 51 years old at the time, says he was raising the issue to provoke debate about the underrepresentation of women in the math, engineering and physical sciences departments. Nevertheless, he had to step down as President of Harvard University following a tornado of protest on American campuses.

As for Mr Modi, he was credited with delivering "the world's worst compliment" in a speech at Dhaka University during his recent visit to Bangladesh. In an attempt to commend Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her country's sterling cooperation with India against terrorism, he said, "I am happy that the Bangladesh Prime Minister, despite being a woman, has declared zero tolerance for terrorism."

Now, there are many things to criticise about Mr Modi's worldview on women but it is unfair to read snarky "weaker sex" prejudice into this particular remark. His praise of Sheikh Hasina alluded to her extraordinary courage in a region where the status of women is unenviable. As one contributor on social media pointed out, no one objected when Hillary Clinton used the exact same phrasing in praising Mamata Banerjee's rise to West Bengal's chief ministership (and yes, she meant the same thing). Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's remarks ruling out recruiting women for combat operations were probably more worthy of ire.

All of this suggests that there is, undoubtedly, a case for my sisters to cultivate more equilibrium and a better sense of humour (no kidding, feminist jokes are about as hilarious as Sir Tim's little yarn in Seoul). But there are equally strong reasons to forgive them their limited sense of levity or balance because the status of women in the workplace, even in the developed West, is still no laughing matter.

Certainly, the dumbfounded audience at the KFOWST could not have found anything remotely funny in Sir Tim's joke (and it did not, judging from its freezing riposte). Despite its high human development, Korea is not famed for gender equality. In Korea, women scientists represent just 17 per cent of the working researchers in Korea, which is around the same as India.

In the US and Europe, bar Scandinavia, the cliched glass ceiling in businesses from banking and finance to engineering is firmly in place. When someone heading a bluer than blue chip cutting-edge firm like Satya Nadella - and he's just 47 years old - can make a facetious remark about women trusting in "karma" to get a pay rise you know that sexism is alive and kicking in the world's most developed economy too. And when India has to mandate women's representation on corporate boards and companies mostly fill the quota with female relatives, you begin to understand why women struggle to maintain their equanimity against sexist jokes and sundry comments.

Coming back to old Sir Tim, perhaps he suffers a short memory too. Or he would have remembered how Rosalind Franklin’s research formed the basis of Crick, Watson and Wilkins’ breakthrough in determining the structure of DNA in the fifties.  They went on to win the Nobel Prize for their work. None of these male scientists were recorded as falling in love with Franklin. But the fact that they cheated her often gets overlooked. That is no joke.