'Closing the gender data gap' through smartphone-based peer research with young women in Bangladesh: A feminist data justice perspective

“为了给女孩创造有意义的改变，我们需要缩小全球性别数据差距”(Girl Effect，2019)“缩小性别数据差距”最近已成为一种主流发展‘趋势’。自2016年盖茨基金会承诺为这一特定事业提供8000万美元以来，这一短语已经成为整个发展领域的常见说法。有人认为，如果不填补性别数据中的差距，就不可能弥合“性别差距”，即男女之间的不平等。然而，尽管这一论述突然流行起来，并产生了大量资金，但性别数据差距及其克服这一差距的努力几乎没有受到学术界的关注。许多问题仍未得到回答；性别数据差距是如何定义的？“结案”意味着什么？产生关于性别问题的新数据实际上如何在实践中导致性别权力关系的转变？本文通过一个致力于“缩小”性别数据差距的发展项目的详细案例研究--孟加拉国女孩效应的科技使能女孩大使计划(TEGA)--为这些问题提供了新的线索。大数据分析等技术创新正在被联合国等机构重新定位，以帮助“解决”性别数据差距“问题”。然而，Girl Effect以一种不同的方式利用数字技术，通过培训低收入环境中的一群女孩(Tega)如何使用基于智能手机的研究应用程序，以便她们能够在自己的社区收集性别数据。Girl Effect认为，这一突破性的、由女孩主导的研究解决方案通过它实现的“更安全、更快、更可扩展和真实的研究”带来了“有意义的变化”。通过参与者观察、半结构化访谈和参与性研讨会的结合，本文通过获得孟加拉国的Tegas和工作人员以及伦敦的Girl Effect领导团队的视角，生成了关于“性别数据差距”话语如何发挥作用的丰富的实证观察。这项研究从女权主义数据公正的角度，批判性地评估了技术支持的同行研究的潜力和局限性，以a)“弥合”性别数据差距，b)产生“有意义的变化”，目的是确保未来的性别数据项目最好地服务于基层年轻女性的利益，她们正在收集“关于”或“与之”的信息。

"To create meaningful change for girls we need to close the global gender data gap" (Girl Effect, 2019)"Closing the gender data gap" has recently become a mainstream development 'trend'. Since 2016, when the Gates Foundation pledged $80 million to this specific cause, this phrase has become common parlance across the development sphere. It is argued that 'gender gaps', i.e. inequalities between men and women, cannot be closed without also filling in gaps in gender data. Yet despite the sudden popularity of this discourse, and the significant funding it has generated, the gender data gap and efforts to surmount it have received scant scholarly attention. Many questions remain unanswered; how is the gender data gap defined? what does 'closing' it entail? And how does generating new data on gender issues actually lead to the transformation of gendered power relations in practice?This thesis sheds new light on these questions through a detailed case-study of a development project dedicated to 'closing' gender data gaps - Girl Effect's Technology Enabled Girl Ambassador (TEGA) programme in Bangladesh. Technological innovations, such as big data analytics, are being repurposed by bodies like the UN to help 'solve' the gender data gap 'problem'. However, Girl Effect leverages digital technologies in a different way, by training cohorts of girls (TEGAs) in low-income settings in how to use a smartphone-based research application so that they can collect gender data in their communities. Girl Effect argues that this "ground-breaking girl-led research solution" brings "meaningful change" through the "safer, faster, more scalable and authentic research" it enables. Through a combination of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops this thesis generates rich empirical observations of how the "gender data gap" discourse plays put on the ground, by gaining the perspective of the TEGAs and staff in Bangladesh alongside those of the Girl Effect leadership team in London. Taking a feminist data justice perspective the research critically assesses the potential, and limitations, of technologically enabled peer research to a) 'close' the gender data gap and b) generate "meaningful change", with the aim of ensuring that going forward gender data projects best serve the interests of the young women at the grassroots that they are collecting information 'on' or 'with'.