The Matilda effect \ The stories outside the frame
- Lucía Ballesteros
- Jul 28
- 9 min read
We like to think of science as a mirror—an objective, edge-to-edge reflection of the world as it truly is. But mirrors are built by human hands, and the frames we put around them determine what stays in the reflection and what falls into the margins.
For decades, we’ve treated the gaps in that reflection as isolated and tragic accidents. A few missing names. A few “historical oversights.”
The Matilda Effect.
Sounds a bit like a secret code, doesn’t it? The kind of term exchanged in small circles by people who know something the rest of the world missed. Which is slightly ironic, considering the pattern behind it is neither small nor particularly hidden. Somehow, even after naming it, we still manage to look right past it.
So what is the Matilda effect? What is it hiding?
