Matilda effect

The Matilda Effect in Science.

The Matilda effect is the systematic repression and denial of the contribution of women scientists in research, whose work is often attributed to their male colleagues.

The "Matilda effect" is a corollary to the "Matthew effect", which was postulated by the sociologist Robert K. Merton.

The Matilda effect is related to the Matthew effect, which states that eminent scientists will often get more credit than a comparatively unknown researcher, even if their work is similar.

In 1993, scientific historian Margaret W. Rossiter coined the term "Matilda effect", after Matilda Gage, to identify the social situation where woman scientists inaccurately receive less credit for their scientific work than an objective examination of their actual effort would reveal.