Dr Elizabeth Loder, Head of Research at The British Medical Journal said it was time to start using female pronouns as the overall number of women doctors would soon overtake men. It would also help to end the inherent sexism attached to the job title.

The Bank of England has invited nominations for the new face of the new £50 note, with the stipulation that candidates must be no longer living and from fields such as medical research, biology and astronomy. Nobel laureates and ministers said it was time for a British women in the profession to be recognised. “The new £50 note is a great time to recognise women who have made distinguished contributions to British science.”

“This research follows previous work in this area, which suggests that wearing makeup enhances how dominant a woman looks,” he said. “While the previous findings suggest that we are inclined to show some deference to a woman with a good looking face, our new research suggests that makeup does not enhance a woman’s dominance by benefiting how we evaluate her in a leadership role."

The team largely sought out older men, believing that they were less likely to alter their speech out of politeness than women and so were a better representation of a true dialect.