GENDER DATA FUTURES: Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Gender Transformative Related Concepts

This chapter provides an overview of the core concepts that underpin the gender transformative approach to data governance. It introduces key terms such as gender data, gender inclusivity, gender norms, empowerment, feminist approach and intersectionality. Understanding these concepts is essential for effectively applying the gender transformative approach in practice and for helping stakeholders recognize the importance of integrating gender perspectives in datagovernance across all policy areas and sectors.

The chapter also emphasizes that adopting this approach is a shared responsibility and part of the work of all stakeholders involved in shaping and using data across the African continent. Furthermore, it serves as a foundation for building a shared commitment to addressing the root causes of gender inequality and barriers within data governance systems. When these core concepts are misunderstood or poorly applied it becomes difficult to implement the strategic goals and their related actions, thereby limiting the potential to influence policy and achieve meaningful progress towards gender equality.

Feminist Approach

Feminist approaches aim to transform entrenched patriarchal power structures and empower those disadvantaged by them, most often women and girls, whose realities are marginalized by dominant systems. They provide a critical conceptual foundation upon which gender transformative strategies are built

Contemporary feminist frameworks, particularly those informed by African feminists, emphasize the need to confront colonial legacies and their enduring influence on governance, knowledge production, and power dynamics. As Sylvia Tamale13 argues, any effort towards gender justice in Africa must decolonize both mindsets and systems by interrogating how global and local structures perpetuate inequalities, often privileging Western epistemologies while silencing African voices and realities

In this context, feminist data governance requires moving beyond surface-level representation and single-axis analyses. It must recognize and respond to intersecting oppressions shaped by race, gender, class, disability, geography, sexual orientation, and other identities. This involves reclaiming data practices so that they reflect African lived realities, resist extractive models, and centre the agency of those historically excluded from decision making.14

Through this lens, gender transformative data governance must aim not only to collect better data but also to reshape the systems, policies, and institutions that determine whose knowledge counts and whose voices are heard. It calls for approaches that dismantle rather than reinforce systemic inequalities, ensuring that data ecosystems are inclusive, participatory, and rooted in equity and justice.

Gender Data

Around the world, women and girls continue to face unequal treatment, discrimination and exclusion simply because of their gender. Gender data forms the foundation for informed decisions, effective policies and targeted actions. Having accurate and accessible gender data is essential for understanding lived experiences and accelerating progress toward a more equitable and just world.15

Gender data refers to the collection, analysis, and use of information that reveals where and how gender differences, inequalities, and power imbalances exist16 across all dimensions of life, from education and employment to health, political participation, and digital access.17 This means data should intentionally capture nuanced perspectives especially for women, girls and other marginalized groups whose identities and needs are too often overlooked.18 Importantly, gender data goes beyond sex disaggregation to include data that specifically addresses gender issues, acknowledges the diverse experiences of people of all gender identities and reflects structural inequalities.19 Missing or incomplete data on these groups has real consequences leading to policies and decisions that fail to address their needs and access to services.20 For example, in many African countries, agricultural datasets often fail to capture gender-specific roles in farming, land ownership, and climate adaptation. As a result, predictive models used to design subsidy programs or distribute climate-resilient seeds may prioritize male landowners while overlooking women smallholder farmers, who make up the majority of the agricultural workforce. Without gender-responsive data, policies risk deepening inequalities in food security and climate resilience.

Collecting such data requires methods that avoid stereotypes and take into account how cultural and social norms may introduce bias.21 For instance, data on women’s access to mobile phones across African countries often counts the number of women who own a device but fails to capture who controls its use, digital literacy, and safety, or whether social norms restrict access. Without collecting data on these deeper gendered dynamics, policies that aim to close the ‘digital gender divide’ risk being ineffective or even reinforcing inequalities. The examples below illustrate gender data use cases.

Gender data is used to inform policies that promote women's economic empowerment. For example:

Uganda's surveys conducted by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) such as the National Population and Housing Census (undertaken every ten years), and the National Service Delivery Survey (NSDS), have provided critical gender disaggregated data that has informed policy actions including the adoption of energy-efficient cooking technologies such as improved cook stoves, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LGP) as well as offering gas cylinders at subsidized prices and flexible payment plans in selected districts. These interventions have significantly reduced the time spent by women on cooking-related tasks. Research shows that Ugandan women spend an average of four hours per day on cooking-related activities; however, with access to clean and efficient cooking technologies, this time can be reduced by up to 70%. The resulting time savings enable women to pursue education, income- generating activities, and active participation in community affairs and decision making, thereby enhancing their economic independence and opportunities to start or expand a business. Increased economic autonomy empowers women to make informed financial decisions, contribute more meaningfully to household welfare, and break the cycle of poverty. Moreover, as women's participation in community decision making grows, it fosters greater gender equality, social inclusion and a strong sense of self-worth among women.

Source: UNACC; Women Empowerment through Clean Cooking

Gender Transformative Approach

Gender transformative approaches seek to change societal norms and structures to achieve gender equality. It focuses on systemic change, challenges cultural norms and stereotypes and empowers marginalized genders.22 These structural inequalities are rooted in African cultural beliefs and social constructions but were further reinforced by colonization, where colonized women were either diminished or erased from important areas of social and public life.23 This introduced structural drivers of inequity that continue to reverberate today. These are further reinforced through digital technologies and data governance regimes that often replicate colonial logics of exclusion from decision making in the data and digital sphere and unequal access to resources.24

A gender-transformative approach seeks to change the structural and power dynamics that underlie gender-based inequalities, discrimination, and exclusion and empower disadvantaged populations.25 This requires building the individual and collective agency of women and girls, strengthening their skills, knowledge, confidence and decision-making power so that they can meaningfully participate in, influence and even lead program implementation in data governance in ways that are relevant to their context.26

A gender transformative approach must also be intersectional, addressing how gender inequalities overlap with other factors such as race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Overlooking these intersections risks undermining progress or making results short-lived. Fully sustained gender transformative approach entails building partnerships and collaborations, including working with social movements, feminist, women’s rights and youth-led movements, the private sector and with institutions that have a large-scale reach.27

Examples of gender transformative approaches include implementing policies that mandate equal representation of women and marginalized groups in data governance bodies, adopting gender- responsive budgeting to ensure resources are allocated equitably, building national gender data frameworks that collect and analyze gender-disaggregated data, and engaging community leaders, civil society, and private-sector stakeholders to challenge stereotypes and shift perceptions about women’s roles in shaping data policies and systems. 

The example below illustrates a gender transformative use case.

Tanzania's household data, drawn from national surveys conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, was instrumental in revising the Productive Social Safety Net Program (PSSNP) and the Tanzania Social Action Fund. These revisions were part of the broader government's commitment to human capital development and poverty reduction to deliver quality interventions that change the lives of the poor and vulnerable women, girls, men, and boys.

Gender was considered a core aspect of this program. Drawing on gender-disaggregated data gathered from household surveys, women were included among the "vulnerable groups" to be targeted by the program. At least 40% of temporary employment in public works such as cleaning activities, community infrastructure, and agriculture and livestock activities were reserved for women beneficiaries of the program.

Source: Employment Intensive Investment Programme International Labour Office; Tanzania: Gender- responsive public works as a key building block of social protection for all

The program also identified measures to enhance women’s participation. These included flexible working hours, and differentiated tasks that accommodated women’s domestic responsibilities. Provisions were also made for women with special needs, such as pregnant and lactating mothers, allowing them to undertake lighter work. Health check-ups for pregnant mothers were promoted in health centres and in some project areas, child care arrangements were put in place, with elderly women taking care of children while mothers participated in the public works programs.

The program achieved gender equitable results and impacts. Women’s participation in public works increased, exceeding the minimum target of 40%, with women making up approximately 70% of those engaged in public works. Women also played active roles in public works design and selection of sub-projects, ensuring that these responded to their needs, such as advocating for initiatives that ease their routine domestic tasks, allocation of light work to pregnant and lactating women, and child care initiatives helped to advance women’s participation in the program.

At the beneficiary level, the program contributed to the expansion of women’s livelihood options and an improved asset base. It also generated positive social impacts, including increased women’s bargaining power and participation in decision-making, reduced marital conflicts and divorce, and improved access to and uptake of health and educational services for women, men, girls and boys.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality recognizes that gender is deeply intertwined with other sources of inequality and exclusion, creating overlapping forms of discrimination, vulnerability, and marginalization for many women, men, and gender diverse people.28 These overlapping inequalities are rooted in social identities such as race, ethnicity, class, age, geography, religion, ability status, and are reinforced by broader systems of power, including laws, policies, and institutions shaped by colonialism and patriarchy.29 In data governance, intersectionality pushes us to ask who is left behind, under what circumstances.

By identifying and addressing hidden structural barriers and recognizing differences within marginalized groups, intersectionality enables more inclusive and effective change.30 Taking an intersectional approach in data governance means addressing overlapping barriers, centering the voices of the most affected, and fostering cross-sector collaboration. This allows those who are affected by policies to play a substantial role in building their own story. Policymakers should consult and involve diverse stakeholders before making data governance policies. The following example highlights an intersectionality use case.

Gender disparity exists globally in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers. In Kenya, only 21.4 percent of STEM professionals are women. Addressing this issue, the Ajira Digital Program, led by Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communication & Digital Economy in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and other stakeholders, set out to empower over one million young people annually and close the gender gap in STEM. It equips them with skills and creates pathways to digitally enabled employment in the gig and freelancing economy.

The program seeks to position Kenya as a choice labor destination for multinational companies and encourage local companies and the public sector to create digital work.

The initiative adopts a gender transformative approach by ensuring that young women are not only included in the program but are also empowered to actively participate and thrive within the digital ecosystem. Its gender transformative strategies focus on addressing structural barriers that limit women’s participation in digital spaces. They include targeted outreach and recruitment of young women through community networks, universities, so as to increase women and girls’ enrolment in digital skills training. For example at the Swahili Port Hub, one of the 100-plus Ajira Youth Empowerment Centres countrywide, girls undergo transformative training in digital skills such as transcription, virtual assistance, data entry, and digital marketing, learning how to use different platforms to find online job opportunities, discovering resources for upskilling, and becoming proficient in using various tools, software, and workspaces that are in high demand in the job market, particularly for freelancers. Another training centre is Madrasa-Tul-Falaah hub in Kibera, an Islamic learning centre with a rich history that serves as a cultural cornerstone for the Nubian and Muslim communities. Through this centre the initiative recognizes and accommodates the diversity and intersectional identities of women and girls, ensuring that cultural and contextual needs are respected.

Recognizing that many women and girls in Kenya face financial constraints that limit access to education and training, the program provides free walk-in centres where participants receive training and mentorship on digital skills (mainly basic skills) and get connected to gig and freelancing work on online platforms.

The program has achieved measurable success in transforming women's participation in Kenya's digital economy. Many women trainees have transitioned into freelance digital work in areas such as transcription, virtual assistance, and content creation gaining financial independence in the process. Beneficiaries of this program have also reported improved living standards, with multiple income streams contributing to greater financial stability and enabling them to enhance various certain aspects of their personal life and career. As digital skills become the cornerstone of modern economies, initiatives like Ajira are vital for closing the gender gap in technology and empowering more women to become leaders in technology.

Source: Mastercard Foundation: Transforming Lives Through Digital Empowerment, 13 December 2024

Gender Equality and Equity

Gender equality refers to equal outcomes for women, men, girls, and boys.31 Gender equity refers to fairness: the process of levelling the playing field to achieve gender equality. Gender transformative approaches are a way to operationalize gender equity, with the goal of achieving gender equality through intentional and additional measures.32

In the context of data governance, gender equality would mean that all genders have equal representation and participation across data governance processes. This includes occupying leadership and technical roles, such as data protection officers, data stewards, members of data protection authorities, and gender inclusion specialists. An example is Rwanda’s gender responsive statistics strategy that ensures that women policy makers are included in national data governance structures.33

Conversely, gender equity in data governance focuses on ensuring that women and girls have fair access to opportunities, power and resources to participate in, influence, and benefit from how data is collected, governed, shared and used. This would require introducing corrective measures that specifically address the unique barriers in data governance faced by women and girls.34

For example, Uganda’s Ministry of ICT and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) have worked with women’s rights groups to highlight risks of online gender-based violence, leading to greater awareness of online safety and security measures by women and girls. The use case below illustrates an additional example of gender equity.

The African Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data-Intensive Sciences (ACE-Uganda) launched the She-Data Science Program, an initiative aimed at equipping young Ugandan women with practical, high-demand skills in data science, artificial intelligence, and bioinformatics. The initiative aims to close the gender gap in data science and technology by empowering young women with skills to actively thrive and participate in shaping the future of work and innovation in the digital age. The program has supported two women at doctoral level, five at master's level, and several others in internships, positioning them as pioneers in a field where women remain underrepresented. The Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, is committed to expanding such opportunities under the Digital Transformation Roadmap (2023–2027), which prioritizes skills development, innovation, and women's participation in ICT.

By providing targeted support and resources to women who are historically underrepresented in data science and technology, the She Data Science program demonstrates gender equity in action. Additionally, the program ensures that women are not only included but also equipped with the necessary skills to meaningfully participate in emerging data and digital fields. In doing so, it contributes to inclusive growth, innovation, and sustainable development, while positioning women at the forefront of the digital revolution.

Source: The African Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data-Intensive Sciences (ACE-Uganda) and Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, Uganda (2024)

Across various African countries, ICT policy consultations through platforms like webinars, conferences, and stakeholder workshops provide invaluable opportunities for both men and women leaders in technology to share their perspectives to ensure that decisions on data protection reflect everyone’s concerns.35 Achieving gender equality and equity is not only about equal representation but also about fairness in access, participation and influence. It requires deliberate policies, gender responsive practices and collaboration between governments and other stakeholders such as civil society, academia, and the private sector to ensure that all people, regardless of gender, can benefit from data governance.

Gender Norms

These are informal social rules defining the expected behavior, roles and responsibilities of people based on their perceived gender.36 Gender norms form part of structures that underpin gender inequality and are a key target of change in gender transformative approaches.37 In the context of data governance, gender norms influence whose decisions are prioritized, whose data is collected, how it is categorized, and how it is used in decision making processes. Transforming gender norms requires change at all levels, including individual, community, systems, services, and policy.38 This transformation ensures that governance processes not only reflect gender equity in principle but actively eliminate system barriers in the collection, analysis and application of data. The example below demonstrates a use case of breaking gender norms in digital technology.

The Government of Rwanda is committed to breaking gender norms through various initiatives. One of these is the Women Empowerment Through Digital Technologies strategy (WEM-TECH) to ensure women’s empowerment and their full participation based on equality in all spheres of society and digital technology. The strategy positions women as innovators, designers, contributors to data processes, developers moving beyond merely accessing or simply using or accessing technology to actively shaping and improving their daily lives. One of the objectives of this strategy is to address barriers arising from social norms and stereotypes and to enhance digital safety for women’s inclusion.

Other initiatives like “Inkubito z’Icyeza” (awarding the best performing girls and scholarship schemes for girls) under Imbuto Foundation support girls from vulnerable families to access education, pursue their dreams and participate in traditionally male-dominated fields such as Science, Technology, Mathematics and Information Communication Technology, thereby enhancing their employability and economic empowerment.

We Code: Initiated by the ICT chamber of Rwanda Private Sector Federation and the University of Rwanda. “250 Startup” is an incubation program that has graduated about 30 startups so far. The startups include girlfounded and led startups. To date, 108 women graduated with software and soft skills development in the first two cohorts, and as a result, 91.5% of all graduates from the first and second cohorts are employed.

Source: Rwanda (EN), UN Women (2022), Women Empowerment Through Digital Technologies (Wem-Tech) Strategy

Empowerment

Empowerment is defined in various ways. One comprehensive definition describes it as a personal journey during which individuals, through increased access and critical awareness, develop a clear and evolving understanding of themselves, their rights, and opportunities in the world around them.39 This process involves gaining increased agency, voice, and involvement, enabling them to make informed personal and public choices that improve their lives and communities.40 Supporting women’s empowerment requires concerted efforts to transform the structures, institutions and dynamics which reinforce and perpetuate inequity and barriers.41 Promoting the empowerment of women, girls is a core aspect of gender-transformative programming.42 For data governance, this would involve equipping women and other stakeholders with skills to understand, analyze and use data to advocate for women’s rights as well as holding governments accountable. The example below illustrates an empowerment use case.

In Nigeria, the Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), has become a leading force for empowering women and girls in data and digital technology. Through its programs focused on digital skills, mentoring, and leadership, W.TEC has trained a good number of women in digital entrepreneurship skills. Women and girls who are historically underrepresented in tech and data received targeted resources and support so they can participate meaningfully as innovators, coders, data users, and digital entrepreneurs, not just consumers of technology. Such efforts contribute to closing the gender gap in the digital economy and thus advancing women's empowerment in Nigeria's data and digital governance.

Source: The women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.Tec) 2024 Impact Report

13 Tamale, S. (2020). Decolonization and afro-feminism.
14 Iyer, N., Chair, C., S Achieng, G. (2023). Afrofeminist data futures. In Feminist AI: Critical Perspectives on Algorithms, Data, and Intelligent Machines (pp. 0). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192889898.003.0020
15 Open Data Watch (2023),Gender Data Compass 2023 Report
16 Data2X (2017) Gender Data: Sources, gaps, and measurement opportunities
17 Ibid
18 Development Initiatives, (2023),Improving Gender Data to Leave no one Behind
19 Data2X (2017),Gender Data: Sources, gaps, and measurement opportunities
20 Annie Kilroy (2020), What Do We Mean by “Gender Data?” Global Data Policy
21 Ibid
22 FAO, IFAD and WFP (2020), Overview of gender transformative approaches: Gender transformative approaches for food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture – A compendium of fifteen good practices.
23 Sylvia Tamale, (2022),Decolonization and Afro-feminism
24 Ngwinui, Belinda, Azenui,( 2022),Leveraging Digital and New Technologies for Development in Africa’s Emerging Economies with Significant Structural Constraints
25 Jess MacArthur, Naomi Carrard, Federico Davila, Melita Grant, Tamara Megaw, Juliet Willetts, Keren Winterford (2022), Gender-transformative approaches in international development: A brief history and five uniting principles, Women’s Studies International Forum, Volume 95, 102635, ISSN 0277-5395,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2022.102635.
26 Ibid
27 Rachel Marcus, Fiona Samuels, Shoubo Jalal, and Helen Belachew (2022),Background Paper Series UNICEF Gender Policy and Action Plan 2022-2025 Gender-Transformative Programming
28 Adaptation Fund (2022), Study on intersectional approaches to gender mainstreaming in adaptation-relevant inter- ventions
29 Ibid
30 Humbert, A. L., Strid, S., Tanwar, J., Lipinsky, A., S Schredl, C. (2024). The Role of Intersectionality and Context in Mea- suring Gender-Based Violence in Universities and Research-Performing Organizations in Europe for the Development of Inclusive Structural Interventions. Violence Against Women, 31(6-7), 1688-1711. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241231773 (Original work published 2025)
31 Rachel Marcus, Fiona Samuels, Shoubo Jalal, and Helen Belachew
(2022), Background Paper Series UNICEF Gender Policy and Action Plan 2022-2025 Gender-Transformative Program- ming
32 Ibid
33 Data Policy (2023): Breaking Barriers: Reinforcing Gender Data Analysis and Use with the Gender Data Lab Initia- tive:https://www.datatopolicy.org/use-case/gender#:~:text=Implementation-,Strategic%20Collaboration%20in%20Ac- tion,the%20implementation%20of%20its%20activities.
34 WOUGNET (2024); Fostering Gender Inclusive Online Spaces in Uganda: https://wougnet.org/fostering-gender-in- clusive-online-spaces-in-uganda-insights-from-the-our-voices-our-futures-consultative-meeting/#:~:text=Project%20 Context%20and%20Progress,%2Dbased%20violence%20(OGBV).
35 UN WOMEN (2024), Bridging the digital gender divide through mentorship and collaboration
36 Rachel Marcus, Fiona Samuels, Shoubo Jalal, and Helen Belachew
(2022), Background Paper Series UNICEF Gender Policy and Action Plan 2022-2025 Gender-Transformative Program- ming
37 Ibid
38 Generation Equality Forum (2021) Transforming Gender Norms to Achieve Equality Now Curated Discussion Report #3
39 A.Cornwall, (2016), Women empowerment: What works? Journal of International DevelopmentJ. Int. Dev. 28, 342–359 (2016)Published online 28 March 2016 in Wiley Online Library(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jid.3210T
40 Ibid
41 Naguib, R. (2024). Grounded Approach to Women’s Empowerment: Understanding the Complexities. In: Naguib, R. (eds) Women’s Empowerment and Public Policy in the Arab Gulf States. Gulf Studies, vol 11. Springer, Singapore. https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6006-4_2
42 Ibid