author
Clara E. (Clara Elizabeth) Collet
1860–1948
A pioneering British economist and civil servant, she used careful research and hard facts to argue for better pay and working conditions for women. Her work helped shape early twentieth-century social reform and made her an important voice in the study of labor and poverty.
1 Audiobook
Educated working women: Essays on the economic position of women workers in the middle classes
by Clara E. (Clara Elizabeth) Collet
About the author
Born in London in 1860, Clara Elizabeth Collet was among the first women to graduate from the University of London. She became known for combining scholarship with public service, building a career as an economist, statistician, and civil servant at a time when very few women were welcomed into those fields.
She is especially remembered for her investigations into women's employment, wages, and living conditions. Collet also worked with Charles Booth on social research in London and later served at the Board of Trade, where her evidence-based approach supported reforms connected with labor policy and the economic position of women.
Collet died in 1948. Although she is not as widely known today as some of her contemporaries, her writing and public work show how closely economic research could be tied to practical efforts to improve everyday life.