Contribution to discussion Women in Physiology Symposium IUPS Congress Kyoto 2009 Professor Denis Noble President, IUPS

ICSU Statute 5 "In pursuing its objectives in respect of the rights and responsibilities of scientists, ICSU, as an international non-governmental body shall observe and actively uphold the principle of the universality of science. This principle entails freedom of association and expression, access to data and information, and freedom of communication and movement in connection with international scientific activities without any discrimination on the basis of such factors as citizenship, religion, creed, political stance, ethnic origin, race, color, language, age or sex. ICSU shall recognize and respect the independence of the internal science policies of its National Scientific Members. ICSU shall not permit any of its activities to be disturbed by statements or actions of a political nature". ICSU Statute 5 (see also the longer ICSU Statement on the Conduct of Science IUPS adheres to ICSU and fully supports this principle

Some Japanese history 8 out of 16 reigning monarchs over the period 592 to 770 were women Tonomura, H. (2007) Women and sexuality in premodern Japan, in: W.M. Tsutsui (Ed) A companion to Japanese history (Oxford, Blackwell, page 352) The two classical medieval Japanese prose texts (The Tale of Genji 源氏物語 and The Pillow book 枕草子 ) were written by women, Murasaki Shikibu 式部紫 and Sei Shonagon 清少納言. Many of the medieval (Nara and Heian) Japanese poets were women