Accessing Reliable and Accurate Gender Data: A Journalist's Dilemma

Journalists use data to inform their storytelling, make comparisons over time, and hold decision-makers accountable to their constituencies. However, in many countries around the world, access to data is fraught with bureaucratic obstacles or is simply not available. When data access is not an issue, reliability and accuracy can be. Furthermore, data collection itself may not consider gender and/or other demographic differences, which can be extremely useful to produce content meant to inform policymaking or incentivize the design of meaningful and equitable interventions.

On May 12, members of the Internews HJN and EJN explored the World Bank Gender Data Portal with some of the experts that helped to build it. Features that are helpful for journalists were highlighted as was training resources available in multiple languages. We also heard directly from a local journalist who has recently produced stories on health that required them to gather and compare useful data to make sense of the story and assess its impact on the communities they report on.

Speakers:

• Sarah Bunker, Gender Specialist, World Bank (email)
• Laura Cooper Hall, Gender Programme Officer, Human Rights in Conservation, IUCN (email, Twitter)
• Jhoandry Suárez, writer and journalist (email, Twitter)

 

Please click on the speakers' names to download their presentations. To view Jhoandry Suárez's slides in English, click here.

 

Moderator:

• Beatrice Spadacini, Health Manager, Health Journalism Network, Internews

 

Resources from the webinar: 

• The World Bank's new Gender Data Portal
• A data story on migration from The World Bank
• Video by Capsula Migrante, part of the information campaign targeting migrant Venezuelan women in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador
• Stories written by panelist Jhoandry Suárez on pregnant migrant Venezuelan women: one, two, three
• A report on gender and environment indicators from IUCN
• A report on exploring the triple nexus of gender inequality, state fragility and climate vulnerability from IUCN
• A report on developing good gender and environment statistics from IUCN
• A report on how to make the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework gender-responsive from CBD and IUCN
• Topic profiles on gender-based violence, Covid-19 and health from the World Bank
• A resource for journalists on ethical coverage of gender-based violence
• World Bank research program on the gender dimensions of forced displacement, and an event related to that research program
• A World Bank blog about climate change and Indigenous women in Nepal