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Data has become an indispensable tool to challenge power and create social impact in communities. In working towards gender equity, it is crucial for traditionally marginalized groups to be consulted and have a seat at the table in developing inclusive design processes for data collection, analysis and data release, so as to tackle existing institutional norms of discrimination and exclusion.

This project seeks to better understand how feminist movements in sub-Saharan Africa can be empowered through the production, sharing and use of gender data, and how this knowledge can be translated into actionable recommendations for private technology companies in terms of how they share non-commercial datasets.

This work was generously supported and commissioned by Facebook.

READ THE REPORT

All Images by @Neemascribbles. Please do no use or reproduce without permission from the artist.

MAPPING FEMINIST MOVEMENTS ACROSS AFRICA

In order to understand how feminist movements use data, we first mapped over 140 feminist organizations from across sub-Saharan Africa. This list is not comprehensive and does not include all feminist organizations or regions of Africa. We aim to make this list publicly available, include additional regions within Africa and regular update the list.

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WHAT IS FEMINIST DATA?

Data is understood broadly as pieces of information. In this research project, we defined data as distinct pieces of information, stored as values of quantitative and qualitative variables, which can be machine-readable, human-readable or both.

Feminist data makes use of feminist praxis as a lens to collect and analyse gender data. Feminist research methodologies centre identifying, exposing and challenging the root causes of inequality and discrimination evident in biased power relations. These methodologies embrace intersectionality, value participants as co-producers of knowledge and experts in their own domains, and brings to the foreground the work of and voices of women and traditionally marginalised groups.

CHALLENGES IN DATA USE

  1. Data Literacy
  2. Connectivity and Access
  3. Lack of Enabling Policies
  4. Lack of Gender-disaggregated Data
  5. Time lag between large-scale national surveys
  6. Gatekeeping
  7. Resource Availability
  8. De-prioritization of feminist causes
  9. Verification and replicability of available data sources
  10. Donor Agendas

CONCERNS ABOUT DATA USE

  1. Ethics of data collected from secondary sources
  2. Political manipulation and motives within available data
  3. Re-traumatization of respondents
  4. Secure storage of data and data privacy
  5. Focus on quantitative data as rigorous
  6. Shadowbanning on digital platforms
  7. Consent from minors
  8. Trust and cultural or patriarchal barriers
  9. Treatment of Women of Colour by technology platforms
  10. Women’s Safety on digital platforms

WHAT CAN WE DO?

A number of recommendations were suggested by the feminist activists and movements that the researchers engaged with. Afrofeminist data futures, may only be possible when those who hold the data ensure that data is shared in a transparent and accountable manner and aligned with feminist principles. This research is a step in understanding the role of data in feminist movements. More research and significant investment are needed to explore best practices to support data use and developing data practices that work to ensure data justice across Africa.

A ROADMAP TO STRENGTHENING THE FEMINIST DATA ECOSYSTEM

  1. Independent and Intersectional Data Centres
  2. Data Collaboratives
  3. Building trust with feminist movements
  4. Funding for data training initiatives and feminist technologists
  5. Funding for Feminist Research
  6. Build appreciation for different forms of data
  7. Strengthen women’s safety online
  8. Feminist Data Governance

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE?

  1. You can subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about our work.
  2. If you would like to add your organization to our list of feminist organization, please fill out this form.
  3. Send us your resources on feminist data to add to our public reading list.
  4. Fund and collaborate with us on ongoing research. Send us an email and get in touch!

Research Conducted With Support from Facebook


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share.