11
View
comments
Six years ago University Challenge quizmaster Jeremy Paxman asked why so few women made it on to the long-running BBC2 show.
Now, with the latest series under way, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the disparity in numbers between male and female competitors has still not improved.
The former Newsnight presenter told finalists in 2015 to expect tough questions, then added: 'Few tougher, perhaps, than why on earth are there no women left in this stage of the competition?'
Just two years after the comments by Paxman, there was another all-male final between Wolfson College, Cambridge and Balliol College, Oxford.
Since July, only 17 out of 64 contestants on University Challenge have been women. Six years ago, Jeremy Paxman (pictured) asked why so few women made it on to the BBC2 show
And so far in the current series, which started in July, only 17 out of 64 contestants who have taken part were women – just 26 per cent.
Illustrating the gender imbalance, last week's contestants Exeter University failed to field a single female, while their opponents, Manchester, boasted one – medical student
