To all those suddenly reticent PIs who, in June, were blasting Hudlický and the lack of diversity in organic chemistry, don’t you think that the iniquitous demand of long work hours could be part of the problem?

You’re shutting out young parents who need to worry about childcare. You’re shutting out those who are relied upon to take turns providing care for members of their family.

You’re shutting out disabled people who physically can’t work those hours. (Of course, you probably don’t care anyway, considering you don’t have accessible bench space or fume hoods. Have you even seen one person in a wheelchair make it through a PhD in synthesis recently?)

You’re shutting out poor/broke students for whom the extra 20 hours a week of hard work used to be a part-time job that provided income when they were in college. Deferred loans are still accruing interest.

It is the privileged who have the ability to work for little pay. It is the privileged who have the ability to subject their bodies to the stresses of a longer work day. It is the privileged who can bear the short-term opportunity costs of grad school.

And the gatekeeping aspect of this issue is unreal. Warning students they won’t be able to get a job writing (grants and papers) and directing students unless they spend five years at the bench running reactions and columns for 12 hours/day, 6 days/week?

Nothing is going to change anytime soon because this system is self-perpetuating. Those who bought into it and paid their dues now benefit from it. Finally, it’s their turn to run a lab of 15 privileged students with the same mindset and pick the winners. Wash, rinse, repeat.