Equality Insights
Gender data for equality.
Data is a feminist issue. It can be a powerful tool to drive action on gender equality and shape a more inclusive, equal and just future for everyone, everywhere. Our flagship program Equality Insights collects inclusive data to inspire feminist social change. We use data to drive transformative change in three ways:
- We have developed innovative tools that collect high-quality, inclusive data about poverty and inequality. Our data help to fill gender data gaps and reveal important insights that are essential to creating a just, equal and sustainable future.
- We put data in the hands of change agents – from women’s rights organisations who advocate for change, to government policy makers and national statistics offices. Together with our partners, we use inclusive data to drive social change and improve the lives of many.
- We use our locational power and advocate to make inclusive data the norm, and ensure it is used to inform policies and decisions.
Since 2008, IWDA has been at the forefront of world-leading research and innovation that is redefining how poverty is understood and measured. Because for too long, the lives of too many have not been captured by existing global poverty data sources.
Measuring What Matters – Our Survey Tools
IWDA has led the development of a gender-sensitive measure of poverty and inequality. This includes survey tools that ask individuals, rather than ‘heads of households’, questions about many aspects of their life to better understand their unique circumstances. This data shows how gender, age, disability, location and other factors shape experiences of poverty and inequality, helping to develop inclusive policies and solutions.
Equality Insights survey tools have been informed by participatory research with over 3000 people from six countries who have a lived experience of poverty and inequality. Across the lifespan of the program our survey tools have been used in seven countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Some of this work was completed under a previous name, the Individual Deprivation Measure.
Equality Insights provides an evidence base for policy-makers, women’s rights organisations and other advocates for equality. This is a foundation for IWDA’s advocacy for, and contribution to, better gender data to achieve gender equality, because we know that data plays an essential role in revealing inequalities and the barriers that sustain them.
Equality Insights is a vehicle for transformative, systemic change and builds on IWDA’s commitment to shifting systems and structures, behaviours and attitudes, data and analysis, that stand in the way of equality for all.
