Gender Equality and the Data Revolution [Audio]

Speaker(s): Professor Oriana Bandiera, Tonusree Basu, Twivwe Siwale | The innovative use of data has contributed to the women’s movement fighting for equal pay, but there is still a large gap in the availability of quality data measuring the well-being and contributions of women to society, especially in developing countries. Without sufficient high-quality and disaggregated statistics, many women will remain at risk of being invisible and persistent gender inequalities will not be bridged. The UN’s 2030 Agenda calls for a data revolution for sustainable development which would lead to enhanced understanding and advocacy, more informed planning, and better decision-making. Ahead of International Women’s Day 2020, this high-level discussion will explore the important roles of data quality and availability in generating evidence to inform policies promoting gender equality. We will showcase perspectives from developing and developed country policymakers and researchers on the challenges and opportunities for collecting and sharing gender data. Oriana Bandiera (@orianabandiera) is a Professor of Economics at the LSE and the Director of STICERD. She is also a Research Programme Director for the IGC State research programme and Member of the IGC Steering Group.She is a member of IZA, CEPR, BREAD, EUDN and JPAL-Europe. Her primary research interests are in labour economics, development economics, and the economics of organisations. Tonusree Basu is Lead, Policy Priorities at Open Government Partnership (OGP). She is responsible for strategy and partnerships to support reforms, on areas like anti-corruption, gender, digital governance across OGP member countries. Tonu has consulted on international open government projects, including with UN Women and the World Bank. Tonu started her career working with grassroots organizations in India, and serves on the Board of the Society for Citizens Vigilance Initiative', India, that supports citizen empowerment among underserved communities. Her previous roles have included leading projects related to parliamentary engagement with citizens at PRS Legislative Research, India, and managing a San Francisco-based global policy network on impact investing, established with the UK Cabinet Office and World Economic Forum. She holds an MSc in Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, where she was a Public Service Fellow. Tonu has a diploma in conflict management and is trained in the classical Indian dance form - Odissi. Twivwe Siwale (@TwivweSiwale) is a Country Economist for the IGC in Zambia. She is a Commonwealth Scholar who holds an MSc in Public Economics from the University of York. She has over six years of experience in the field of public finance and management with an emphasis in taxation. Prior to joining the IGC, Twivwe worked at the Zambia Revenue Authority as a Policy and Legislation Officer where she worked on policy implementation in the Domestic Taxes Division. Sandra Sequeira is an Associate Professor of Development Economics in the Department of International Development, a research affiliate at STICERD, CEPR, Novafrica and the International Growth Centre. Her research interests are in development economics, trade and consumer behaviour. She holds a PhD from Harvard University, an MA from the Fletcher School and a BA from Universidade Nova in Lisbon, Portugal. Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival #ShapetheWorld This event is part of the LSE Festival: Shape the World running from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 March 2020, with a series of events exploring how social science can make the world a better place. The full programme will be online in January 2020.