Data demands stories. Numbers need narratives. All your gender equity advocacy efforts are a waste of time if you are not telling a story with your rich data. Here are 8 ways you can tell stories with your data for gender equity advocacy purposes 👇🏾 ♻ Repost if you found the information useful Post courtesy of: Ann-Murray Brown 🇯🇲🇳🇱Ann-Murray Brown 🇯🇲🇳🇱 - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/annmurraybrown_data-storytelling-and-advocacy-ugcPost-7168960120742203393-XFZb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

1. DATA STORYTELLING
CAN ENHANCE
GENDER EQUITY
ADVOCACY
8 WAYS
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2. Use data visualizations to make the gender pay gap
clear and compelling.
Types of Visualization to choose from include:
Line graphs can effectively show earnings
trajectories over the course of a career,
highlighting divergences between genders.
Cumulative gap charts (area charts) can vividly
illustrate the growing disparity in total earnings
over time.
Segmented bar charts can show the
percentage difference in earnings at various
career milestones.
Tell the story behind the numbers to show how a
woman is impacted women over a lifetime.
For instance, juxtapose the story of a woman's
career with the broader data trends to illustrate
how systemic issues have concrete personal
impacts.
Visualizing The Gender Pay
Gap
1
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3. Stacked area charts can also visualize the
proportion of women in leadership roles over
time, showing how the composition of leadership
has changed.
Include benchmark lines or shaded areas to
represent goals or averages (e.g., the UN’s gender
parity targets) to contextualize the progress or
lack thereof within each sector.
Use case studies of specific organizations,
countries, or industries that have seen significant
progress or faced notable challenges. This adds
depth to the data, making the narrative more
engaging and relatable.
Create pyramid visuals or sankey diagrams to
illustrate the funneling effect as women progress
towards leadership roles, highlighting the “leaky
pipeline” and the “glass ceiling” effect in various
fields.
Tracking Women's
Leadership Representation
2
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4. Start by clearly defining what constitutes unpaid
labor, such as domestic chores, caregiving for
children or elderly relatives, and volunteer work
within communities. This establishes a common
understanding for your audience.
Assign an economic value to unpaid labor using
models that estimate an hourly wage for the types
of work being performed. This can make the
contribution of unpaid labor tangible by translating
it into familiar economic terms.
Line graphs or area charts can illustrate the
cumulative economic value of women's unpaid
labor over time or across different regions.
Include anecdotes or testimonials from women
discussing the impact of unpaid labor on their lives,
career choices, and economic opportunities. This
adds a human element to the data, making it more
relatable.
Quantifying The Impact Of
Women's Unpaid Labour
3
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5. Tracking Health and Access
to Care
4
Choose specific health issues where gender
disparities are evident, such as maternal health,
mental health, life expectancy, or prevalence of
certain diseases. This focus will help your audience
grasp the extent of disparities.
Gather data that showcases disparities in health
outcomes, access to care, and treatment efficacy
between genders. Segment this data by other
intersecting factors such as age, race, socio-economic
status, and geographic location to uncover layered
disparities.
Use bar charts or line graphs to compare health
metrics between genders across various conditions
or healthcare services. For example, a line graph
could illustrate the gender gap in survival rates for
heart disease over several years.
Include personal stories to make the abstract data
more tangible and emotionally resonant, driving
home the urgency of addressing these issues.
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6. Give an explanation that workplace equality
encompasses: pay equity, representation in leadership
positions, equality in hiring practices, and opportunities
for advancement.
Employ bar charts and line graphs to compare pay by
gender and ethnicity within the same job roles or
industry sectors. A stacked bar chart could illustrate the
composition of company leadership or workforce
diversity over time.
Create a timeline or before-and-after visuals to showcase
changes in workplace equality metrics following policy
implementations or diversity initiatives. Point out both
improvements and areas where progress has stalled.
Compare your organization's or industry’s data against
national averages, industry standards, or equality goals.
This contextualizes your story within a broader narrative.
Include personal stories or testimonials from employees
who have benefited from equality measures or faced
barriers.
Workplace Equality
5
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7. Employ various types of visualizations to tell a more
compelling story:
Line graphs to show trends over time, highlighting
changes before and after policy enactment.
Bar charts to compare key metrics across genders
or different policy environments.
Maps to illustrate geographic disparities and the
regional effectiveness of policies.
Use before-and-after data visuals to show the
effectiveness of gender-focused policies in education,
healthcare, and employment
Besides quantitative data, incorporate qualitative
analysis on how such policies have altered societal
norm.
Include specific case studies or examples where gender-
focused policies have led to significant outcomes.
Personal stories or testimonials can add a powerful
narrative layer to the data, making the impact more
relatable.
Impact of Gender-focused
Policies
6
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8. Education and
Empowerment
7
Give the context to your story by framing the
global or regional context of education
disparities and their impact on empowerment.
Highlight why education is crucial for personal
and societal empowerment.
Use bar charts or line graphs to illustrate gender
disparities in various educational metrics. A gap
analysis visualization can effectively show
differences in educational outcomes between
genders over time or across different regions.
Employ time-series visualizations to
demonstrate changes in educational
attainment and access over time.
Weave in personal anecdotes or case studies
that bring the data to life. Stories of individuals
who have overcome barriers to education or
who have been empowered through learning
can make your narrative more relatable and
compelling.
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9. Create a dashboard-style visualization that
gives an at-a-glance overview of progress
across multiple gender goals. This could
include metrics like gender parity in education,
economic participation, political
representation, and access to health services.
Use choropleth maps to show progress by
country or region. This geographical approach
helps identify global patterns and disparities,
spotlighting regions leading in gender equality
efforts and those lagging behind.
Compare progress across different goals using
bar charts or radar charts. This comparative
view can help prioritize efforts by showing
where the most significant gaps remain.
Include quotes from global leaders, activists, or
individuals directly impacted by gender-
focused policies. This adds depth and personal
perspective to the data.
Monitoring Global Gender
Goal Progress
8
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10. In Conclusion...
The power of data storytelling for achieving gender
equality and equity cannot be overstated.
By transforming raw data into compelling narratives,
advocates and policymakers can illuminate the
nuanced realities of gender disparities, making the
abstract tangibly impactful.
Data stories transcend mere statistics, weaving facts
into narratives that resonate on a human level,
compelling action, and fostering empathy.
Learn more at the workshop on Data Storytelling on
20 March 2024
Register here: https://rb.gy/2fygr8
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