Scientific American - September 2018

A  A   S

22 Scientific American, September 2018

SOURCES: “ANALYZING GENDER INEQUALITY THROUGH LARGE-SCALE FAC

EBOOK ADVERTISING DATA,”

BY DAVID GARCIA ET AL., IN

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES USA,

VOL. 115, NO. 27;

JULY 3, 2018 (

Facebook gender divide data

); THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT 2016. WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, 2016 (

education gender gap data

)

Graphics by Amanda Montañez

Skews male

–1 012

No data

–2

Facebook Gender Divide Index

Skews female

0.25 0.50

–2.0

–1.5

–1.0

–0.5

0.5

0.0

1.0

1.5

2.0

Bangladesh

Oman

Chad

Cameroon

U.S.

Angola

Education Gender Gap Index

Facebok Gender Divide Index

Skews male

Skews female

The Facebook Gender Divide

vs. the Education Gap

The Facebook Gender Divide around the World

Chad

Afghanistan

Ye m e n Bangladesh

South Sudan

SOCIOLOGY

The Facebook Gender Gap

Social network use may be a valuable metric for equality

n a  ition to  ur e in cat  i eos and baby pictures, social networks can provide
øäx…ø§lx­ ̧ßDǚžž³… ̧ß­Dîž ̧³Í³xÿäîølā‰³läîšDîÿ ̧ߧlÿžlxjDxU ̧ ̧¦øäxUā
women is associated with greater gender equality.
Researchers looked at the anonymized data of 1.4 billion users in 217 countries, ter-
ritories and autonomous regions and calculated the proportion of women and men
ages 13 to 65 who actively used the social network. Places with a lower female-to-male
øäDxßDîž ̧jäøšDä…šD³žäîD³jÿxßxlxx­xlî ̧šDþxDßxDîxßÙDxU ̧ ̧¦x³lxß
divide” ( chart and map ÊÍ5šxîxD­D§ä ̧̧§§xîxl= ̧ߧļ³ ̧­ž ̧ßø­lDîD ̧³̧ø³- tries’ gender equality in terms of economic opportunity, education and health. The äîølā… ̧ø³lîšDîîšxä­D§§xßD ̧ø³îß āÜäDxU ̧ ̧¦x³lxßlžþžlxž³öć¿Šjîšx­ ̧ßxx ̧-
nomic gender equality increased the following year. In contrast, an increase in econom-
žx³lxßxÔøD§žîāž³öć¿ŠÿDä³ ̧îDää ̧žDîxlÿžîšDßxløîž ̧³ž³îšxDxU ̧ ̧¦x³lxß
lžþžlxløߞ³öć¿éÍ5šžä‰³lž³äøxäîäîšDîDä­D§§xßDxU ̧ ̧¦x³lxߐDÇžä­ ̧ßx likely a contributor to—rather than a result of—economic gender equality. The results were published in July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Ridhi Kashyap, a demographer at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in îšxäîølājšDäÇøU§žäšxlDäxÇDßDîx­DÇ ̧…îšx³îxß³xîx³lxß DÇjD§ä ̧ø䞳DxU ̧ ̧¦
lDîDÍ3šx… ̧ø³lîšDîx³lxߐDÇäž³DxU ̧ ̧¦øäxÇß ̧þxlî ̧UxD ̧ ̧l­xDäøßx ̧…x³- der gaps in Internet use in general; data on the latter are often unavailable. Kashyap says the Internet can provide users with valuable health and employment information and “can also be a great way to enhance skills.” David Garcia, a computational social scientist at the Medical University of Vienna and the lead author of the PNAS äîølājäDāäDxU ̧ ̧¦
data could help policy makers estimate gender inequality in poor countries and could
track its evolution on a daily basis. — Matthew Hutson

Researchers compared Facebook gender

divide values with the World Economic

Forum’s gender gap indices for each coun try

or region and found a particularly strong link

with education inequality. The graph includes

only countries and regions for which data are

available for both measures.

In much of the
world, men and
women use Facebook
at similar rates. But
in some developing
countries or regions,
the social media
platform skews male.
5šx‰þx` ̧ø³îߞxäD³l
regions with the high-
est Facebook gender
divides are labeled.