Meet the UK’s National Statistician
Jil Matheson is the UK’s National Statistician. Prior to this she held senior positions at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), including Director General for Statistics Delivery. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Learned Societies in Social Science and of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS).
I didn’t know that statistics existed as a discipline until I was studying sociology at the University of Sussex. I was one of those kids who was into maths, arts and languages, so I went for social sciences because they combined my interest in maths and in words, and in politics and social change. And I left university without a career plan. I just wanted to do something relevant to the economy and society.
I have been very fortunate – I have met fantastic people and I have taken opportunities as they came along.
After university I joined the then Office for Population Censuses and Surveys, where I worked on a range of surveys. I had contact with a lot of government policy departments, and I got to see the whole process, from concept, through research design and field work, to analysis, depiction and dissemination.
There are a lot of women working in statistics, but usually in less senior positions. Of the professional statisticians in government departments, 44% are women. However, of the professional statisticians in the Senior Civil Service, only 23% are women. In the past, survey interviewers were overwhelmingly female. But the role has been professionalised and is now more likely to be full-time, and today only 35% of interviewers are women. I feel very strongly about getting women into leadership. You need to give them a range of interesting experience in statistics, and combine this with training and mentoring.
Early on, I had a boss who said “I have a suspicion that Jil would like to do my job”. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I was always looking at how things could or should be done, and how to get the best out of people, and his comment opened my eyes. Now there are many more formal programmes to help people into management and leadership in the Civil Service and I have benefited from them – for instance at Ashridge, Henley and the National School of Government.
My kids have grown up and I have the flexibility to take on this demanding job. What motivates me is the importance of making visible what is hidden from history. Through statistics we can make sure that the experiences of men and women are made explicit – not only in terms of national averages, but with regard to particular communities and groups.
Statistics are part of every day life, and any issue or situation can generate them. The RSS is running a campaign called ‘Get Stats’ which I recommend to non-statisticians.
Finally, this is the year of the national Census, which is carried out every ten years. Once it was only sent to the male head of household. It has changed over the years – in 2001, for instance, we introduced a question about caring responsibilities and in 2011 we will have an option to complete the questionnaire online for the first time in the UK. The Census aims to treat men and women equally in both its question content and field operation. No doubt one of the uses of the data to come out of the Census in due course will be to enable better assessments of sexual inequalities to be made.
I feel my career has come full circle: in 1971 I filled in the national census as a student of sociology. Now it goes out with my name on the front cover!
Comments
Rachel :
Dear Jill, I don't know any statisticians so am interested to read your story. Do most statisticians work for government or are there many other career paths in this field?
Ruth Wilson:
Hi Jil,
Many thanks for joining us on the UKRC blog!
I was interested to read about the Census and the question about caring responsibilities. I think sometimes we are so habituated to gender inequality that we (men and women) do not see it. Are there other questions you would like to ask on the Census which would help make inequalities more visible?
Jil Matheson:
Thank you for your question Rachel.
Its quite hard to say specifically where most statisticians work. Certainly, there are over 1400 professional statisticians working in the Government Statistical Service across a range of central government departments and agencies, with training, support and formal career paths for them to follow. But of course there are also many statisticians working in academia, in local government, and right across the private sector.
You can find some useful information on careers in statistics on the website of the Royal Statistical Society: http://www.rss.org.uk/site/cms/contentChapterView.asp?chapter=10
Jil Matheson:
Hi Ruth
We have to limit the number of questions on the Census to make it manageable for people to fill in. However, there are lots of other sources of information which can help provide a picture of inequalities.
For example, I'd point you in the direction of the 'Focus on Gender' publication, produced by the Office for National Statistics, which offers an insight into the lives of men and women in contemporary UK society. It can be found here: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/focuson/gender/default.asp
Anna Zalevski:
Hi Jil,
I read your blog with a great interest! Working in research I spend a lot of (very enjoyable) time analysing data on gender and SET, and I find statistics extremely useful in providing evidence base for our arguments!
Recently we have produced our first statistics guide ‘women and men in science, engineering and technology: the UK statistics guide 2010’, covering a number of topics from the areas of education, employment, pay, leadership and public engagement. As far as I know, this is the first comprehensive guide detailing women’s participation in SET in the UK. If you have time to look at our guide, I would greatly appreciate your comments! Your feedback would be extremely useful in the design of the next version. The guide can be downloaded from our website at: http://www.theukrc.org/files/useruploads/files/final_sept_15th_15.42_ukrc_statistics_guide_2010.pdf
I would also like to ask how the census questions are chosen. I understand that although most questions stay the same, there are a number of questions that are added to each new census to take into account new trends, ‘hot’ issues and other factors. Are there any consultations with different ‘user’ groups when designing the new census?
Samantha Alsbury:
Gender inequality is gradually improving but the change is slow especially in some sectors. Do you find it frustrating when you look analyse the statistics, do you ever wish you could step in and change things?
Jil Matheson:
Dear Anna
Thank you for pointing me in the direction of your guide ‘Women and men in science, engineering and technology: the UK statistics guide 2010’. I will try to have a look, and feed back any thoughts or comments.
The development of the questionnaire for the 2011 Census is a culmination of a programme of consultation, research and testing. This included formal consultation on the topics to be included, with government departments, local authorities, the health service, the academic community, the Third Sector, users of census data within the market research and commercial user communities and with the general public, through advisory groups, consultation papers and at open meetings around the country.
There is a lot of detailed information about all aspects of the 2011 Census on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website. You may be interested in having a look, and reading further information or downloading various reports about how the questions were developed and the different consultation and testing processes that were carried out. This is available on the ONS website at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/index.html
Jil Matheson:
Dear Samantha
Of course! But I'm also aware that my expertise is in presenting statistics clearly and impartially. I can never, ever, compromise that or people will stop trusting the statistics. I provide the statistics in a way that I hope people find useful and which helps in monitoring progress or in identifying where change is needed.
As the head of a Government Department, though, there are things that I can do - actively supporting our diversity activities of various kinds.
Marion Scott:
Dear Jill
I have had a look at the gender focus link you gave Ruth (above). A useful resource.
I notice that the narrative on this page http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1654 about working lives does not explicitly draw attention to the low proportions of women across the science, engineering and technology occupations. The page does mention the low proportion of women in skilled trades but I am sure you will know that it is also shocking to see the figures for women in engineering, and for many of the sciences, especially at the higher levels. Lots of information about this in the UKRC's guide and on its website.
When statistics are presented it is ultimately a matter of judgement and choice as to what is highlighted in an analysis. The UKRC's Guide may not be produced again for some time. Do you think there is any chance that its statistical work and analysis might be mainstreamed any time soon? How much would that cost you?
Gender disaggregation of statistics forms a critical role in revealing and understanding difference, inequality and inefficiency. Do you think gender disaggregation and its analysis is widespread and effective enough in the UK?
Thank you very much for your time.
Marion
Erica Williams:
Hi Jill,
I have always been facinated with numbers and statistics have been an interest of mine though I tend to stay away from them professionally as I am dubious that many of them are reported accurately. They can be analysed to say what you want them to say!
It is good that it has been "professionalised" as it give more credence to the results and reports.
You say that now your children have grown up you have more flexibility to pursue your career, how did you find juggling the two when they were young?
I have come to respect the census much more now that I am tracing family trees. It reaaly helps when tracing people and I am sure when the census of 2011 is made public the information in it will paint a very clear picture of what people are doing now.
Erica
Jil Matheson:
Dear Erica
Thanks for your comments. Don't shy away from numbers! They're an important way of showing what's happening in the world.
You asked sepcifically about 'juggling' when my kids were young. That's an interesting word, because that's sometimes how it felt (I've always disliked the phrase 'work/life balance'. 'Work/life integration' better describes what I tried to do). I was fortunate in that I have a partner who is a very hands-on father, so we shared child care responsibilities eg. I did the child-minder/nanny/school run in the morning; he came home from work in time to meet them from child-minder/after school activities etc. Neither of us had family nearby but we were fortunate to be able to afford a nanny when they were young. And I did get sick of the Sunday afternoon diary conferences! Having said that, I'm aware that it was harder for my lone - parent friends. With planning I always could go away to Conferences/courses etc, although I did rather less of that when they were very young.
Debbie Winfield:
Dear Jil,
What steps can you take to reassure me of the following;- Regarding census and how how private information will be used?
Arthur Stott:
Do you think we should assign a value to our private data that is collected these days?
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