Invisible Women - Women are not adults

Hello GFPs! I got up disgustingly early to dial into a yoga session this morning because I’m a smug tw*t (or twot as the AB weirdly says it, which I never understood until I watched Easy A and now I’m wondering: is that just how Americans think it’s pronounced? More on this breaking story as we get it.)

Anyway, I’m telling you that because like a lot of people I have been *really* struggling with this lockdown. I don’t know if it’s the series of knocks I had over the last few months, or just, you know, everything being relentlessly grey both figuratively and literally (thanks, terrible UK weather, impeccable timing as always). Or as the cute girl in the taco ad says, why not both?

So I decided a couple of weeks ago to start virtually attending the yoga studio I used to go to in the Before Times, and…it has really helped. Also helpful: my newly acquired jigsaw addiction. If you’re struggling too, and frankly, who isn’t right now, I strongly recommend giving them both a go, but especially the yoga (or any other online class if yoga isn’t your thing), because seeing and hearing ACTUAL OTHER PEOPLE! STRANGERS! PEOPLE WHO IRL A YEAR AGO MIGHT HAVE ANNOYED ME IF THEY ENCROACHED ON MY MAT! YES I KNOW THAT’S NOT VERY YOGIC! makes a difference, even if it’s just online (among its other crimes this pandemic has dealt a serious blow to my identity as a misanthrope).

And since I know none of you come to me for mental health advice (wise move), let’s get on with another week in ignoring women! It’s nice that in a world of uncertainty some things never change isn’t it?

You would think, Linda. In fact you might even think that SARS and MERS might have functioned as a kind of early warning system, and we could have got our act together and realised women make up the majority of the global healthcare workforce *before* COVID-19 hit 🤪

But that’s just morally indefensible lil ol me.

And now the news you’ve all been waiting for: a new study found “no evidence of dehydration with moderate daily coffee [defined as 3-6 cups a day] intake”! Hurrah! But did the study include women?

Well, we start off with a gender neutral title: “No Evidence of Dehydration with Moderate Daily Coffee Intake: A Counterbalanced Cross-Over Study in a Free-Living Population”. Strong, I like it.

We have several references to “adults” throughout, which is exciting because last time I checked, adult includes women too. Here’s an example:

Yes, study authors, speaking as an adult, I agree: data gaps are very interesting.

Except I guess I’m not an adult because there it is: “Females were excluded from the study due to possible disruptions to fluid balance by the menstrual cycle.”

In conclusion: women are not adults, men can drink coffee.

Here is some good news! The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors is running a project called “Design for Everybody”, and yes everybody does actually include women this time. They are even sex-disaggregating their data! Imagine!

So let’s help them out: they are asking everyone (and just to be clear everyone does also include men) to take ten simple body measurements and enter them into this online form. It will take about ten minutes and you can be completely anonymous. So get measuring! Who knows, it might even result in PPE that actually protects workers.

Date for your diaries! I’ve interviewed Ti for my book so I already know this will be a brilliant chat. Join us over on insta at 5pm GMT on Wed Feb 17th! I may have a rant about PPE!

A majestic one for you this week

That’s it! Byeeee! xoxoxo