On International Women's Day this year the Executive Dean of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University, Magnus Nydén, introduced a live-streamed event run by the Faculty Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In his introduction, where he was tasked to introduce invited female speakers, Professor Nydén stated that he didn't think there should be more women in sciences, and followed with the opinion that "a woman is biologically wired to be more concerned about people, and men about things".

Following the surge of complaints made to the university, Professor Nydén then responded by email, saying that his remarks were misunderstood. A later email was sent by Vice Chancellor Bruce Dowton, further backing Nydén, and stating that he has "initiated a fact-finding excercise to establish what transpired".

As the Executive Dean of Science and Engineering, these views are completely inappropriate. Professor Nydén is currently responsible for enacting a major change proposal that will result in dramatic staff losses, the removal of hundreds of courses, and elimination of entire degrees in maths and science. We feel that his views on gender equality make him unsuitable for not only his position, but also the enactment of this change proposal in a gender-neutral way.

As is standard practice, this live streamed event was recorded by the university for later distribution, however the university has not made the recording public and has denied several requests to release it. We want Macquarie to release the complete, unedited footage of the event so that Magnus Nydén can be properly held accountable for his actions.