A professor in Britain who is also the chairwoman of the U.K.'s top shale gas lobby is defending her comments about women opposing fracking because they "don't understand" the process.
Averil Macdonald, who teaches scientific engagement at the University of Reading and is chairwoman of U.K. Onshore Oil and Gas, told the British newspaper The Times that women likely can't comprehend fracking — which entails drilling and then injecting chemicals, sand, and highly pressurized water into rock to release oil and natural gas — because they gave up learning about science as teenagers. "Frequently the women haven't had very much in the way of a science education because they may well have dropped science at 16," she said. "That is just a fact." Women, she said, "not only do show more of a concern about fracking, they also know that they don't know and they don't understand. They are concerned because they don't want to be taking [it] on trust. And that's actually entirely reasonable."
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