February 23, 2024

#feministfriday episode 493 | I simply said yes

Good morning everyone,

At work this week someone called me "Methodology Queen." This is one of the nicest compliments I have recieved at work and I promise I wasn't fishing for it in any way. Of course, I could just bask in the warm and happy feelings that brought to me, or I could bring you a Fem Fri of real methodology queens. I think you know which one I'm going to choose.

We're starting with Katherine Flegal, who is so legit. She works for the CDC and is known for her obesity research, but not known well enough because her research says that being overweight... isn't bad for you? Is actually associated overall with lower death rates. Read all about it:

I think that when you find a result that you don’t expect, the interesting thing ought to be, how can we look into this in a different way? Not just to say that this is giving the wrong message so it should be suppressed. Because that’s not really science, in my opinion.

She saw the obesity epidemic coming. Then an unexpected finding mired her in controversy. | Knowable Magazine

Katherine Flegal was a scientist who found herself crunching numbers for the government, until one day her analyses set off a firestorm. What does she make of her decades as a woman in public health research?

Now what about Ana Justel, with her admirable commitment to the experiential side of statistics:

I was asked to help analyse data from a project they were working on in Antarctica, and I simply said yes. I finally ended up taking the data with my bare hands. It’s been seven campaigns already, and by now I'm much more aware of how much a piece of data costs.

https://www.bcamath.org/en/news-events/news/ana-justel-after-7-campaings-antarctica-im-much-more-aware-how-much-piece-data

Finally, it's history time with Clara Collet, who researched the experience of women and girls in London for Booth's famous survey:

Collet’s investigation particularly into the situation of women in work in London’s east, is terrifically revealing, full of statistics – particularly regarding pay – yet explained and clarified with a thoughtful and very human perspective. Frequent mention is made of Collet’s presence in the East End intersecting with the horrific ripper attacks, however she was also in the area during a much more empowering moment for women; mere months before Collet’s arrival, the female match workers had famously taken direct action against their employers at Bryant and May and won a famous victory.

Women behind Charles Booth's Survey of London | LSE History

LSE curator Inderbir Bhullar shares the story of the women behind Charles Booth's Survey of London: Clara Collet and Beatrice Webb.

Love,

Alex.