It sounds more of a class blocking issue than a sex issue . However is there any documentation on his male assistants and how their work fell short ? I seem to find little to note on his frustrations . I ' m not suggesting women couldn ' t do an equally good job , talent is talent no matter class it belongs too . But to suggest that he also couldn ' t find talent from male assistants seems implausible . You would figure you could get plenty of talent from both pools and mixed even . Good assistants are good no matter what their sex is . It ' d be interesting to get more information about his frustrations and why he was literally unable to hire skilled males at a school and locale with skilled males . Was there more going on here ? Were the males in the same field just shitting down their work as a power play or because they felt it was beneath them rather than an opportunity ? Or the opposite and he wanted all the glory and shot qualified assistants down to keep his qualifications ? Did he just want less expensive staff because he had a ton of data to work with and needed heads more than minds because science is actually more tedious shitwork than glory ? Did he just want women around ? Did he hire Fleming because she herself was skilledcompetent and she had to have female other female assistants because she was a threat to other males who wouldn ' t play nicely and get any work done ? Any of those could possibly explain an all female staff . But without more information it really doesn ' t tell us anymore than what we should already know , capable people are capable no matter where you find them . Though it ' s questionable whether his male staff was actually not capable without more information . It ' s also a bit disingenuous to suggest he merely hired an maid when she emigrated from Scotland where she was a teacher for six years starting at the age of fourteen . Some accounts suggest she was fairly exceptional for her situation . It seems like clickbait title in that regard .