A report on how the technology community can strengthen gender data has been released by the ‘Project17’ initiative. Facebook launched the initiative in partnership with Data2X, Girl Effect, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, and Ladysmith to identify areas where tech companies can strengthen the gender data ecosystem. 

The report titled. ‘Building alliances for gender equality: How the tech community can strengthen the gender data ecosystem’, focuses on gender data gaps related to the following areas: climate change and migration; family life; last-mile healthcare; hidden economies; gender-based violence and discrimination online; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and schools; and shifting social norms.

The report finds a lack of communication between organizations working on gender equality and technology companies. The report calls on tech companies to leverage their resources and data to help answer critical gender and sustainable development questions.

Facebook notes plans to continue to employ its dataset to bridge gender data gaps and drive progress on gender equality. The organization’s ‘Data for Good’ work features Displacement and Disaster maps that help humanitarian response agencies determine community-specific needs during a crisis by providing them with real-time data on population movement. Partners with access to these maps can then understand the proportion of displaced women and men, where women are relocating, and when women are able to return home. Facebook intends to collaborate with the World Bank Group and EqualMeasures2030 to conduct a global survey on gender equality.

Facebook’s actions are part of a growing moment among the private sector to leverage their networks, resources and skills to support sustainable development. Through the ‘Business Avengers’ campaign, for instance, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the B Team and the World Benchmarking Alliance selected 17 companies to represent each of the 17 SDGs and promote the ‘Decade of Delivery’ between 2020 and 2030. The 17 companies are communicating the importance of the Goals, the opportunities the Goals represent and their efforts to help achieve them. [Facebook press release] [AdWeek news on Project17] [Report webpage][Publication: Building alliances for gender equality] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on Business Avengers] [Business Avengers website]