From data asymmetry to equitable stewardship: the gender imperative for development
Official side event during the UN CSTD Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Data Governance, in advance of the CSTD 2026–2027 Inter-sessional Panel.
Data has become foundational to artificial intelligence, public services and economic development, yet the underlying data record remains uneven. Women are underrepresented in areas such as clinical evidence and official statistics, while unpaid work, informal economic activity and the knowledge of low-resource language communities are often overlooked. These gaps risk being perpetuated or amplified as data is reused and AI models evolve.
The Gender Advisory Board to the CSTD will present a proposed framework of data symmetry covering four interdependent dimensions: representational (who is included in data); distributive (who receives the value it creates); temporal (whose knowledge is preserved over time); and procedural (who participates in data governance). The session will explore the implications for developing countries, including representation, provenance, ownership, equitable benefit-sharing and data flows, and consider practical directions for CSTD deliberations on inclusive innovation and development.
Moderator: Caitlin Kraft-Buchman (Co-Chair, CSTD Gender Advisory Board; CEO and Founder, Women at the Table). Confirmed speakers: Li Ning (CSTD Gender Advisory Board member; Director, Asian and African Affairs, China Science and Technology Exchange Center, Ministry of Science and Technology of China); and Anita Gurumurthy (Founding Member and Executive Director, IT for Change).
