When organizations fail to acknowledge the differing experiences of men and women, they treat men as the default and women as the exception — an approach that often extends to their data collection.
For example, collecting data at the household level often means that men answer on behalf of women, because men are typically regarded as the head of the household. The results are “male unless otherwise indicated,” as coined in the landmark book “Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.”
This approach undermines global development outcomes and hurts women, said Mara Bolis, a gender justice advocate, and advisor at Value for Women. Without gender-disaggregated data, which distinguishes between men and women, women and girls are effectively invisible. Governments, donors, and NGOs need to collect information on women in order to understand and meet their needs, Bolis said.
About the author
Catherine Cheneycatherinecheney
Catherine Cheney is the Senior Editor for Special Coverage at Devex. She leads the editorial vision of Devex’s news events and editorial coverage of key moments on the global development calendar. Catherine joined Devex as a reporter, focusing on technology and innovation in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Devex, Catherine earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, and worked as a web producer for POLITICO, a reporter for World Politics Review, and special projects editor at NationSwell. She has reported domestically and internationally for outlets including The Atlantic and the Washington Post. Catherine also works for the Solutions Journalism Network, a non profit organization that supports journalists and news organizations to report on responses to problems.