Professor Wendy Sigle

Wendy is on Sabbatical Leave in 2024-25.

Wendy Sigle is Professor of Gender and Family Studies at the Department of Gender Studies and has worked on a variety of issues related to families and family policy in historical and contemporary societies.

Drawing on my training in economics and demography, my research brings a feminist critical perspective to the way micro-level quantitative methods are applied and how quantitative evidence is, often problematically, interpreted and used to inform policy. One strand of my research explores and evaluates the assumptions researchers often make when analysing secondary survey data or data drawn from official government records. This work explores the ways that a strong reliance on particular quantitative methods, the emphasis on causal inference, and the use and interpretation of demographic indicators such as age, ethnicity, nativity, and relationship status can exacerbate the marginalization of minority groups. A second strand of my research focuses on the validity of indicators of development or policy success. For example, how and with what effect are concepts like reproductive health or gender equality operationalized and used to depict success or "progress" cross-nationally or over time? I would be interested in supervising PhD students who are interested in conducting research that explores these or similar issues.

Member of the PhD Supervisory team of Zuzana Dancikova, Ross Barker (Methodology) and Sopie Legros (International Development).

Expertise

Feminist family studies, comparative policy analysis, critical quantitative methods, complex inequalities, feminist micro-economics, feminist population studies.