How many times have we heard the sentence “Data is worth gold”, or “it´s the fuel of the future”, etc… The fact is that Data is not worth anything, if there are no right or proper questions to be made. And when it comes to Gender issues, the relevance of the question is key.
This is why we find this initiative so brilliant and necessary: the 100 Questions Initiative seeks to map the world’s 100 most pressing, high-impact questions that could be answered if relevant datasets were leveraged in a responsible manner. The issue here is, if there would be datasets that could provide information to answer gender problems, what are the exact and precise questions we would ask.
The project, selected from the following 39 questions, the 10 most relevant questions, produced by a group of Gender experts, which are part of the 100 questions that if we had data about them, we could solve, and therefore take action.
What we like a lot about this project, it is not only the crowdsourced methodlogy, but the idea around data collaboratives potential, and data stewardship
GENDER, POLITICS & DECISION-MAKING
- What are the characteristics of language, imagery, and tone used in online media when discussing female vs. male politicians? What impact does this have on election outcomes?
- How effective is the quota system in increasing female representation in politics? What other approaches can be used and what are some barriers to achieve this objective?
- What are the determinants of influence of women members of decision-making bodies, and what are the outcomes of increased female representation on the policy agenda?
- How can we determine how much agency women and girls have had in informing decisions that affect their lives?
GENDER EQUALITY & EMPOWERMENT
- What is the extent to which countries with feminist foreign policies can exert (feminist) influence on countries to which they provide aid?
- What is the gap in funding for women’s rights organizations globally? What have been the drivers of increased investment in other sectors of civil society that women’s rights organizations could learn from?
- What are the drivers for governments to adopt and implement gender equality laws and policies? How might women’s rights activists have greater access to these drivers in order to advocate for change?
- What is the long-term impact of programs and policies tackling both social and economic empowerment for girls and young women?
GENDER, POVERTY & ACCESS
- How many women are poor compared to men and what are the characteristics most predictive of women’s experiences of poverty? What is the strength and direction of the relationship between time poverty and income poverty for women and girls and what are the most effective interventions to reduce time poverty?
- What is the benefit to women (compared to men) in low-income countries of having access to electricity? Or, put another way, what is the respective cost of not having it?
- How much of the world’s land is owned by women and how does land ownership correlate with gender equality?
- To what extent do women have ownership over ICT infrastructure? What are the gender gaps of ICT skills and internet/mobile access in developed and developing countries and what are the socio-economic characteristics associated with these gaps? What is the relationship between internet/mobile access and ICT skills and women’s economic empowerment?
- How does accessing capital lead to higher entrepreneurship rates for women? What can be done to increase women’s access to capital? How can we better mitigate risks women face when they have greater access to capital?
- What are the trends in internal and international migration by age and sex?
- What factors increase women’s use of public transportation? How can we accurately measure the safety of public transport for women?
GENDER & LABOR OPPORTUNITY
- How do we account for and value unpaid care/domestic work and non-formal work? What are women’s preferences regarding engagement in paid work versus unpaid work in different contexts worldwide and how is this shaped by other dimensions of identity such as age, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, caste and class?
- Despite many normative statements and a universal understanding of the need to alter the balance of working activities between men and women, do we truly know what that balance currently is and what balance we are trying to achieve?
- How do urban social networks work for girls and what role do they have in supporting resources that girls receive for participation in training and work?
- What is the impact of digitalization and automation on women’s labor force participation and social protection, and what sort of reform and opportunities must be available to ensure women can navigate and succeed in the changing world of work?
- What are the determinants of different trajectories of women’s careers in male dominated fields such as STEM fields?
- What is the effect of mandatory parental leave on women’s career progression in developed and developing countries? Specifically, how would the implementation of mandatory, non-transferable paid paternal leave (or second caretaker leave) impact women’s economic empowerment, including the effect on the gender wage gap and leadership gap?
- What are the factors that contribute to improved financial literacy for women and girls, and how can these be scaled?
- How can we accurately measure the prevalence and cost of harassment at work? What is the cost of harassment during participation in employment opportunities to economic productivity and growth?
GENDER NORMS & TRENDS
- How do gender norms affect women’s ability to work and their gains as a result of work? What risks do these norms pose to women empowerment programs in the medium- and long-term?
- What gender stereotypes are introduced to children in early-age education and how?
- How do women’s changing social, economic, and political roles impact men’s social, economic, and political roles?
- What kinds of family forms–rather than households–do people live in?
GENDER & HEALTH
- How does low lactation support, particularly in developed countries where many women are working outside the home, contribute to infant mortality and postpartum depression?
- What are the needs of pregnant and parenting adolescent girls in low and middle income countries?
- In what ways are adolescent girls (12-18) disadvantaged compared to boys in the same cohort and girls and women in other age cohorts?
- How many women die from women’s cancer (e.g. breast, cervical) in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs)? What kind of cost-effective prevention programs and early detection systems can be promoted to reduce the mortality of women’s cancer in these countries?
- How many women and girls are affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) globally; what is the socioeconomic impact of FGM; and what are the effects of ending FGM on health care cost and economic growth?
- What new methodologies can be employed to reach the most vulnerable populations for HIV prevention programming?
- How does climate change impact women and girls’ outcomes, and in particular sexual and reproductive health and rights at the sub-national level? Which sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) initiatives are effective climate change adaptation strategies that benefit both girls and women and the environment?
- What are the most effective interventions to meet the health needs of out of school adolescents and young women?
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
- How effective is technology in helping document and providing assistance to GBV survivors while protecting their privacy?
- What is the availability of support services for young and adolescent girls who experience sexual violence? What conditions enable women to report and leave abusive relationships?
- What is the rate of sexual and gender-based violence in humanitarian crises and what are the most effective interventions to prevent sexual violence in humanitarian crises? How might donors be encouraged to provide increased support to prevention while also funding support structure for survivors?
- How many girls under 18 are bought and sold online for sex or sexual exploitation? Where does the financial transaction take place, by country and platform?
The 100 Questions is an Initiative from The GovLab.
