Johan Ahlander. Gwladys Fuouche. Julie Steenhuysen

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) – All eight winners of the 2021 Nobel Prizes in medicine (https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/julius-patapoutian-win-2021-nobel-prize-medicine-2021-10-04), chemistry (https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/list-macmillan-win-2021-nobel-prize-chemistry-2021-10-06), physics (https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/manabe-hasselmann-parisi-win-2021-nobel-prize-physics-2021-10-05) and literature (https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/tanzanian-writer-abdulrazak-gurnah-wins-2021-nobel-prize-literature-2021-10-07) have been men, re-igniting a recurring debate about diversity in the highly coveted awards, particularly those in science.

Ardem Patapoutian, Syukuro Manabe and David Julius were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday. Giorgio Parisi and Syukuro Mangabe won the Physics gong, Klaus Hasselmann and Klaus Hasselmann were recognized for decoding chaotic climate. Benjamin List and David MacMillan, who developed a method for building molecules, received the Chemistry accolade.

Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, 72, on Wednesday became only the second writer of color (https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-update-1-compassion-not-barbed-wire-should-greet-migrants-nobel-winner-2021-10-07) in sub-Suharan Africa ever to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. Toni Morrison, a Black woman who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 was the last recipient.

Anne-Marie Morhed of The Swedish Association of Female Academics said that Abdulrazak Gurnah met at least one of these criteria of a writer who comes from an outside cultural circle. She is non-European and has a colonial past, but she’s not a woman.

Two prizes are still available, the Peace Prize as well as the Economy Prize. “The (Norwegian Nobel committee) still has a chance of honoring a woman.”

Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Greta Thunberg are at least two women seen to be in contention (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nobel-peace-prize-is-this-greta-thunbergs-year-2021-10-01) when the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Norway on Thursday.

A woman leads the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The majority of its members are women. Similar to the former committee. It is led by a female and has a majority of its members who are women.

Recent years have seen a push to make the award not only to men of European descent from North America, but also to those who are white in general.

Contrary to the twelve Black Nobel peace laureates throughout the history of the Nobel, no Black winner of the Nobel prizes for medicine, science, or physics has ever been awarded. This is according to Professor Winston Morgan of University of East London. He has studied inequality in the sciences and has examined representation in the prizes.

Morgan explained that the largest gap between winners and population is gender-related. “The female winner of the Prize is very, very small.”

Both genders are already using social media to condemn the low number of female scientists this year.

GenderAvenger, a non-profit group dedicated to advancing women’s voices in public dialog, said the prizes https://twitter.com/GenderAvenger/status/1446101809953705987 were “like a terrible mystery where you know the ending halfway through the book. There were only 4 of the 6 categories that were announced, and there was not a single woman present at @NobelPrize. Does this mean that 2021 Nobel Prize was won by men? (Spoiler alert: It’s also amazing to see the work of women).

Some, including Ellie Murray, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health, expressed disappointment https://twitter.com/EpiEllie/status/1445034765841801221 that this year’s awards excluded the contributions of Katalin Kariko and Kizzmekia Corbett, key scientists behind the development of mRNA vaccines that are changing the course of the pandemic.

Nobel watchers, however, said it was entirely likely that Kariko and Corbett would be recognized https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/nobel-medicine-prize-covid-19-vaccine-it-may-be-too-soon-2021-10-01 in years to come. According to them, the reward system for recipients was more flexible than others.

Morgan explained that “The problem for the Nobel prize in medicine is it has a standard and a tradition, and it is difficult for them to separate from that.” Morgan added that the committee will likely respond to the pandemic with scientific innovation within three to four years.

He said that the overall trajectory of Nobel Prize winners showed that the number of female scientists was increasing as well as those from Japan and China.

Black scientists are not on the same track. He said that this concern him more. You need to question if there are enough black scientists at universities, and if they are being supported.

Gurnah, when asked by Reuters why so many Black Nobel Prize Winners for Literature were not more common, replied that the world is changing.

Jesper Häggstrom, the Nobel Assembly chairman that gave the award in Physiology or Medicine said there is no easy explanation, however, it reflects the gender representation in science.

He stated that historically, science has had a low representation of women. Therefore, it is more difficult to find qualified female scientists further back than this.

Haeggstrom refused to comment on whether or not gender was a factor in the selection process for this committee.

He said, “I am not at liberty give you details about this but I can tell you that scientific competence is what determines the outcome.”

Critics point out, however, the composition of the scientific selection boards. Women make up only 25% of 50 members of the medicine selection panel.

Six members make up the Committee for Physics at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. One of them is a woman and two are co-opted men. Six men make up the Chemistry Committee, with two women co-opted.