Data collection historically has disregarded the experiences of women and marginalized communities. This has resulted in women’s unpaid care work being excluded from labor force statistics, leading to an undervaluing of care work in public policy. Additionally, a lack of data on women, particularly black and indigenous women, in health studies has resulted in inadequate risk-prediction models and a fatal under-diagnosing of women’s risks of various health conditions. Infectious diseases like Zika, Ebola, and COVID-19 have also had different impacts on different groups based on factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, and occupation, yet data on vulnerability factors are often excluded. These exclusions have ripple effects and perpetuate social, economic, and political inequalities.
April 5, 2023