From drug dosage to vehicle safety to the size of the smartphone – what affects everyone’s life is often only geared to half the population. The “gender data gap” is to blame, explains Sonja Sperber from the Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). Test subjects in the development of everyday products are rarely women.
In past studies, “the majority of data, sometimes exclusively, was collected from male subjects,” explains Sperber, who, along with other researchers, drew attention to the problem in an article in the “European Management Journal.” “Data on women was not collected or the amount was so small that the data is useless.” It is a historical problem that has become established. The consequences of the resulting data breach should not be underestimated, according to the economist.
Crash test dummies usually designed for men
While men, unlike women, can operate standard cell phones with one hand, the data gap also has more serious consequences: Crash test dummies used to simulate car crashes are modeled on male bodies; Testing with female dolls is not mandatory. So you can’t read the extent to which a woman’s body would be injured in an emergency situation.
Drugs would also be tested mainly on men. Because: “The female body is more complex than the male”, Sperber alludes to the menstrual cycle, among other things. “But such factors should be taken into account, especially if women were to take the medication.” If drugs are only tested on men, the recommended dose for the average smaller, lighter women could be wrong.
Higher risk for women undergoing surgery
However, the gender data gap also impacts medicine in other ways: If students are taught only male anatomy, it will affect the treatment of women. For example, heart attacks manifest with different symptoms than men. A Canadian study recently showed that women operated on by male surgeons are 32 percent more likely to die, develop complications or be hospitalized again than those operated on by female surgeons – with no such differences observed – had surgery. Nevertheless, Sperber argued that awareness of the problem has not yet really penetrated science.
For a special edition of the “European Management Journal”, the researchers are currently calling for the submission of studies on the gender data gap in management to generate more attention for the topic. The scarce data situation also has consequences here: studies that analyze why there are more men than women in management positions are mainly carried out with men. “You can’t understand women and their problems that way,” the scientist explained.
So there is no such thing as neutral data. However, Sperber promised that with more attention to the topic and its implications and a subsequent change in the data collection process, the gender data gap could be addressed.
Source: Krone
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