Let me preface this by saying that our team lasted precisely two episodes on UC (we were fun though!) so there are definitely other women who been on it much more successfully.

But based on my (small and entirely anecdotal experience), some thoughts: https://twitter.com/JonathanHaynes/status/1252482243588755457

It was a competitive process to get on the team. There were a few rounds of trials to whittle numbers of applicants down to the team.

Rounds involved answering a lot of quiz questions, both on paper and then, at a later point, in a UC-style format (including buzzers!)

Through that process we ended up with a team of four men and one woman (there are four people on the team and a reserve)

(Shoutout to m’learned teammates, Mark, Micky, Ben, and Barnaby who are the most frighteningly clever people I’ve ever met)

Speaking to the people who arranged the trials and process to pick the Nottingham team, something they noticed was that there just weren’t that many women who applied in the first place as there were men. So the chances of women making it into the team were obviously lower.

I remember chatting to UC producers about this at the time. They were definitely conscious of the issue. But it isn’t solely up to them to solve, IMO.

It’s also a broader point about how we treat women who know stuff and women who are on tv.

I was pretty lucky in that I didn’t get a lot of comments (or see many) on here- again, we went out in round two!- but there were some, and quite a few were about how I looked because, you know, that’s what matters.

And have often noticed when watching UC while browsing twitter that some of the things said about contestants are just really mean. That affects men and women.

But we know that, generally, women tend to fare worse on social media, and it can be a pretty hostile place.

IMO, it’s a bit of a circular problem. Having more women on UC will help more young women to think that they are smart enough and should go for it. But to do that, more women need to apply, and then it’s a circle.

I don’t know where you start. But it’s on all of us.

Having more questions about women (as has been noted that UC are doing) is also helpful. Partly, of course, because women’s contribution to all of history and life is deserving of questions! But also because it again helps make UC look like a place for everyone.

Tl;dr it’s complicated and there are layers to this. It’s not just a problem with UC as a programme: it’s a problem with broader treatment of women in our society and culture.