Data Feminism Program
Intersectional Data-Driven Advocacy and Policy for Gender Equality
About
The Data Feminism Program at Data-Pop Alliance (DPA) addresses critical gaps in the availability, quality, and use of gender data. Rooted in an intersectional feminist framework, this program seeks to challenge data practices that perpetuate gender inequality, ensuring the lived experiences of women, girls, and gender minorities are accurately represented in decision-making processes.
Through rigorous research, capacity-building, and advanced data science techniques, the Data Feminism Program is transforming how gender data is produced, interpreted, and used to drive policy change and advocacy efforts.
Funders & Partners
Themes
1
Gender-Based Violence
(GBV) and Technology-
Facilitated GBV
2
Harmful Practices – Child Marriage and Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM)
3
Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
4
Care Economy (for
Children, Women, PwD, Older People)
5
Feminist Urbanism
and Mobility
6
Feminist AI and
Data Governance
Products
Our Strategy and Approach
The Data Feminism Program at Data-Pop Alliance is grounded in an intersectional, feminist, and data-driven approach to address the persistent inequalities in the gender data landscape. Recognizing that data is not neutral, the Program seeks to challenge traditional power structures in data collection, analysis, and application, ensuring that gender-disaggregated data is inclusive, actionable, and transformative.
To achieve this, the Program’s strategy is structured around three core pillars:
Strengthening Evidence through Intersectional and Feminist Research
Conducting mixed-methods research to generate high-quality, disaggregated gender data that accounts for the diversity of lived experiences.
Utilizing non-traditional data sources, including geospatial analysis, AI models, and participatory data collection to fill critical gender data gaps.
Expanding research beyond gender-based violence to include areas such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, climate change, migration, and economic empowerment.
Partnering with international organizations, governments, and academic institutions to ensure research findings translate into evidence-based policymaking.
Enhancing Gender Data Capacity and Literacy
Developing tailored capacity-building programs to equip policymakers, researchers, and civil society organizations with the tools to collect, analyze, and apply gender data effectively.
Delivering hybrid, in-person, and online courses such as Gender Data 201 and specialized training on feminist data methodologies.
Supporting national and local institutions in mainstreaming gender data into policy frameworks, ensuring more inclusive decision-making.
Engaging with feminist and gender data coalitions to foster cross-sectoral collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Leveraging Technology and Data Science for Gender Equity
Innovating AI-driven models to improve the analysis of gender data, particularly in understanding the barriers to reporting gender-based violence.
Designing digital platforms and tools that visualize gender data trends, facilitating real-time monitoring and improved policy interventions.
Assessing and promoting ethical, inclusive, and gender-sensitive technological solutions, ensuring AI and digital governance frameworks do not reinforce bias or exclusion.
Advocating for feminist technology policies and digital rights, particularly in the Global South, through research on AI bias, responsible AI, and gender-equitable technology development.
By integrating rigorous research, strategic capacity-building, and technological innovation, the Data Feminism Program is reshaping gender data ecosystems to better serve the needs of women, girls, and gender minorities. Through this multi-pronged approach, the Program works to ensure that gender data is not only more widely available but is also utilized as a catalyst for structural change and gender justice.
Our Impact
Collaborating with UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, and the Rainbo Initiative, we contributed to a movement addressing child marriage and female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone, leading to a historic 2024 national bill to ban child marriage.
The Data Feminism Program has played a key role in strengthening gender data ecosystems globally by ensuring that research, capacity-building, and technological innovation directly support evidence-based policymaking and advocacy. Through strategic partnerships and rigorous methodologies, the program has improved the availability, quality, and use of gender-disaggregated data to advance gender equality. By integrating an intersectional feminist lens into data science, policy, and advocacy, the program continues to drive systemic change—leveraging gender data as a powerful tool for equity and inclusion.
Over the past several years, the Program has:
Implemented
10
projects since
2000
producing dozens of gender-focused outputs, including mixed-method assessments; publications, project reports, and policy briefs; training initiatives; GBV data models; and gender data visualization platforms.
Worked across
10
countries in all major regions
Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA, Asia, and Oceania), directly contributing to stronger gender data ecosystems and equality-focused interventions in countries such as Mexico, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Pakistan, and Nepal.
Collaborated with over
10
funders and more than
10
partners,
including UN Women, UNFPA, UNDP, GIZ, governments and NGOs, directly supporting their missions to advance gender equality, inclusion, and justice.
Secured major multi-year
support from PJMF
(Patrick J. McGovern Foundation), beginning with a $300,000 grant in 2022, followed by $400,000 in 2023 and $350,000 in 2024, supporting the Program and broader DPA initiatives.
Led high-impact capacity-building initiatives
for policymakers, researchers, and advocates—including the Gender Data 201 course funded by Meta, advanced training with UN Women’s Gender Statistics Unit, and justice sector training in Pakistan. These efforts have strengthened gender data literacy, data feminist approaches, and advocacy across sectors and geographies.
Informed national and local gender equality policies,
including feminist urban planning strategies in Kenya and the Philippines; care economy initiatives for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities in Nepal and Bangladesh; digital sexual and reproductive health interventions in Latin America; and harmful practices prevention frameworks in Sierra Leone.
Contributed to feminist technology governance,
including the development of gender-sensitive AI policy guidance for the Global Partnership
on AI (GPAI).
Conducted timely research on digital rights and TF-GBV
(technology-facilitated gender-based violence), including a study on online violence against women politicians in Brazil for ALIGN.
Products and Projects
Gender Diagnostics
- Europe, European Union
- December 2024 - February 2026
- Partner(s): ADE, European Union (Funder)
The EU Gender Action Plan III (EU GAP III) is the European Union’s framework for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in its external action for the period 2021-2025. As this period comes to a close, DPA, in collaboration with ADE, is leading the evaluation of the approach and results reached in terms of gender mainstreaming and women and girls’ empowerment in the third EU Gender Action Plan (GAP). To achieve this, DPA is creating an evaluation framework based on research, document reviews, and interviews, in addition to two field missions to gather firsthand insights. Additionally, DPA will collaborate with the evaluation team from the European Union and other stakeholders to ensure alignment in findings.
With the ultimate objective of advising the European Commission on improved approaches to achieving universal gender mainstreaming and elevating gender equality to benefit women and girls around the world, this work will form part of the next GAP framework.
- Vietnam
- February 2025 - November 2025
- Africa, Mali
- December 2024 - February 2025
- Partner(s): UN Women - Mali (Funder)
DPA, with funding from UN Women – Mali, conducted a comprehensive analysis of the situation of women and men in Mali, identifying key challenges faced by women and girls in realizing their economic, social, and political rights. The analysis combined documentary reviews with analyses of qualitative and quantitative secondary data to develop tools and frameworks for planning gender-sensitive policies, programs, and strategies. It assessed the institutional environment, the implementation of gender equality commitments, within the context of the security crisis and institutional changes.
- Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
- November 2024 - January 2026
- Partner(s): Align (Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms) by ODI (Funder), DRPC (Development Research and Projects Center)
Technology-facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TF-GBV) against women in politics is an increasing, global concern for democracies. It is situated within the rising anti-gender and anti-feminist backlash and further aided by resistance from technology companies for greater regulations of their activities and responsibility to prevent and address such violence. This research project is implemented in partnership with Align and seeks to identify how social (gender) norms and other factors shape political parties’ responses to TF-GBV against women in politics in Brazil and what practices can be adopted by political parties to address it and to create a more enabling environment. A partner organization will be conducting similar research in Nigeria.
- Argentina, Europe, Kenya, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
- April 2024 - September 2024
- Partner(s): City Hub and Network for Gender Equity - CHANGE (Funder), Open Data Watch
Data-Pop Alliance (DPA), in collaboration with Open Data Watch (ODW), was tasked with creating a pioneering gender data framework for urban environments, commissioned by the City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE). This framework was intended for implementation across CHANGE’s network cities, starting with Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Nairobi, and Quezon City as the initial participants. Capitalizing on DPA’s and ODW’s specialized knowledge in data analytics and gender-focused research, the project’s core objective was to provide a robust measurement of gender equity within varied city landscapes. The project’s deliverables included: A comprehensive blueprint outlining the essential requirements and stages for cities to prepare and deploy the framework; The framework itself, featuring specific dimensions and indicators that assessed both the processes and physical form of the cities concerning gender equity; and a specialized data collection tool, complete with training materials, to enable cities to gather and process all necessary data to effectively utilize the framework. This multi-faceted approach ensured that the participating cities were equipped with the knowledge, tools, and methods required to drive meaningful progress in the realm of urban gender equity.
- Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Uruguay
- Dates: March 2024 - June 2024
- Partner(s): Iniciativa Latinoamericana por los Datos Abiertos ILDA (Funder)
- Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
- October 2023 - July 2024
- Partner(s): Fòs Feminista (Funder)
- Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), North America
- July - September 2023
- Partner(s): Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), International Centre of Expertise in Montréal on Artificial Intelligence (CEIMIA), Mila (Funder)
Mila’s AI for Humanity Team identified high-impact, socially beneficial projects and invested in their development and deployment. AI offered possibilities for enhancing well-being and contributing to the SDGs but also had the potential to deepen divides. AI was generally designed and evaluated without systematic gender and diversity approaches, potentially leading to negative consequences. This project aimed to provide the AI ecosystem, particularly the member States of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), with a framework of tools and recommendations to ensure diversity and gender equality throughout the AI cycle. DPA provided technical, organizational, and research support for GPAI’s Project on DGE in AI, organizing consultations and data collection with advisory groups from various sectors, focusing on marginalized and minority groups globally.
- Africa, Asia Pacific, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Sierra Leone, South Asia, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia
- June 2022 - May 2023
- Partner(s): UNFPA, UNICEF (Funder)
The need to end child marriage and FGM has never been greater –without accelerated progress to end both of these harmful practices, millions of women and girls across the globe will continue to be in danger. DPA, in collaboration with UNICEF and UNFPA, conducted a comprehensive landscape mapping and review of key technology-based interventions to address child marriage and FGM across 13 countries in Africa and Asia (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia). During the second phase of the project, DPA carried out an in depth review of three selected interventions to better understand their effectiveness, key success factors, and potential areas for improvement.
The methodology proposed by DPA was based on intersectional feminist approach and an analysis integrating both quantitative and qualitative research methods, as well as traditional and non-traditional data sources collected at different stages of the study, underpinned by a participatory approach involving UNICEF, UNFPA, and other stakeholders.
- Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Mexico, Peru
- March - August 2022
- Partner(s): WhereIsMyTransport (Funder)
Female and male commuters utilize public transportation differently, yet not enough is known about women’s commuting experiences and challenges. In countries such as Mexico and Peru, gendered perspectives in public policy are starting to be considered, but public action remains insufficient. Together with the socially-focused company WhereIsMyTransport, DPA collected data via online surveys that reflects the issues faced by women transportation users in Mexico City, Mexico and Lima, Peru. The resulting paper highlighted the findings and provided actionable recommendations to empower female commuters and promote gender equality.
- Sierra Leone
- January - June 2022
- Partner(s): Rainbo Initiative, Statistics Sierra Leone, UNDP Sierra Leone (Funder)
In partnership with UNDP Sierra Leone, this project assessed the prevalence, incidence, trends, and patterns of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Sierra Leone through a mixed-methods approach and innovate machine learning techniques. By analyzing the structural and root causes that contribute to SGBV, the final report provided targeted policy recommendations to prevent and respond to this phenomenon through a unified national response.
With regards to quantitative methods, DPA mapped, accessed, and analyzed national and international data sources to uncover which drivers might have a higher statistical influence on the prevalence of SGBV. With this information, the research team created advanced machine learning techniques to identify the most relevant indicators and their relationship to SGBV. This analysis was complemented with qualitative data collected through a systematic literature review (over 50 pieces, supported by the ecological model), semi-structured interviews with survivors of SGBV, and focus group discussions with key CSO and government stakeholders.
- Mexico
- August 2021 - January 2022
- Partner(s): Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav) (Funder)
Developed in partnership with Cinvestav, a network of 11 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) research centers across Mexico, this project aimed to provide an institutional gender assessment of the challenges that women working and studying in the network face (including harassment). The findings from an online survey, focus groups, literature review, and documentary analysis were used to outline actionable recommendations towards gender mainstreaming in this complex organization.
Gender and Data Capacity Building
- Pakistan, South Asia
- October - December 2024
- Partner(s): UN Women - Pakistan (Funder)
The five-day training module is structured into five key sections, combining presentations, group discussions, hands-on activities, and real-world case studies:
- Introduction to Gender Data
- Gendered Data Collection and Analysis
- Ethical Use of Gender Data
- Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting (GRPB)
- Applying Gender Data in Policy Formulation
This project represents a pivotal step in building capacity for evidence-based policymaking in Pakistan, advancing gender equity and institutional accountability.
- Africa, Arab States, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Oceania, South Asia, South East Europe, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
- October 2024 - May 2025
- Partner(s): UNFPA (Funder), University of Melbourne
- Europe, United Kingdom
- April - July 2023
- Partner(s): Impact Acceleration Accounts - Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (Funder), University of Surrey
DPA, in collaboration with the University of Surrey, developed a project to highlight the importance of understanding the multiple factors that influence the reporting, prevention, and response to GBV. The project aimed to create a novel, comprehensive, data-driven framework to identify and analyze the underlying causes of GBV. It focused on three main objectives: developing a conceptual framework that combined qualitative and quantitative methods to understand underreporting factors, mapping available data to apply the framework in the UK, and using this framework as a basis for future studies. This approach sought to account for the various factors involved in underreporting, beyond just statistics, to inform future GBV research and policy recommendations aimed at improving prevention and support strategies.
- asia, Asia Pacific, Thailand
- October - November 2023
- Partner(s): UN Women (Funder), UN Women Asia and the Pacific Regional Office
- Global
- August 2022 - Feburary 2023
- Partner(s): GIZ (Funder), GIZ Data Lab
The Data Feminism Series, co-organized and developed by the GIZ Data Lab and Data-Pop Alliance, aimed at exploring, from different angles, what Feminist Development Cooperation is / should be, specifically within the context of the GIZ. In addition, the event sought to inspire decision-makers to view Gender Data as a cornerstone of successful feminist development cooperation, considering power relationships and adopting intersectional approaches. Under the motto “From Talk to Action”, the series was divided into 4 separate events, each featuring high-ranking experts in their field in order to leverage experiences from around the globe, as well as from different sectors and stakeholders.
- Global
- June 2021 - Currently available
- Partner(s): Meta (Funder), TechChange
Gender Data 201, is a free, self-paced, online course developed by DPA with support from Meta and in collaboration with TechChange (the hosting platform). The objective of the course has been to offer a hands-on online learning experience that equips participants with the data skills needed to lead gender-responsive advocacy work, decision-making processes, and/or policy design and implementation. With over a hundred participants from around the world and expert facilitators from various organizations, this course provided a unique opportunity for participants to start leveraging gender data in their own projects and become part of a larger international community of practitioners driving social change through collaboration.