Open Data Charter Positive Outcome Story: Explaining gender pay gap and related issues through data
In Argentina, there was not much data available on gender pay gap and other gender-related topics. This was true especially for caretaking activities which had little to no data and most of the time involve women. There was hence a need to understand if and how this data was created and how it could influence public policy.
Open Data started collaborating with the city of Buenos Aires, especially their data and statistics office, which was already trying to collect data about their policies related to the caretaking economy and its supply/demand dynamics. Open data also collaborated with civil society and the private sector to establish a definition of caretaking economy since there was none as well as which categories of citizens it was targeting the most. This resulted in identifying three main groups, namely children, elderly and the disabled while assessing their needs and understanding how to address them. They worked with a consortium of civil society organizations to create official indicators and a platform as means to gather and analyze data and statistics around these topics.
As a result, the open platform gives an overview of the trends and latest development of the caretaking economy in Buenos Aires as well as touching gender pay gap while giving the opportunity to the public to easily download all the data and information needed. This was beneficial for all parties involved, especially for the city of Buenos Aires but also for the government. This initiative was soon picked up by the government of Mexico which asked Open Data to do the same for them. Therefore, Open Data created a clear indicator system, and the Open up guide tool for both countries to facilitate their policy work but also to showcase demand and supply dynamics while enhancing advocacy campaigns promoted by civil society organizations.