The post demonstrates how data and technology, specifically through partnerships like the one between Snowflake and Ordnance Survey, help address these vulnerabilities by making location and social data more accessible for public benefit. The conversation underscores the importance of “data for good” and the need to combat data disparity to ensure that data-driven decisions are fair, accurate, and inclusive for all communities.
WiD: Researchers have long explored the link between gender equality and climate change. Can you explain how these issues are interconnected, and describe the urgency of addressing them?
Jennifer: Change in general often brings with it risks and uncertainty, both of which have a disproportionate impact on women and children.
Climate change for example often exacerbates existing social and economic disparities. This is particularly true in developing countries where women make up about 43% of the agricultural labor force, but often have less secure land rights. Climate impacts like drought and crop failure disproportionately affect them, as they have fewer resources to fall back on. The UN reports that in 2021, 47.8 million more women than men faced food insecurity. According to the UN, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women and girls; and in a climate-induced natural disaster, mortality rates of women and children are up to 14 times higher.
The effects of extreme weather are not limited to developing countries. Numerous studies of European weather events indicate that the impact of floods, drought and heatwave disproportionately affects women. Maternal health is of particular concern. For example, a Spanish study found that exposure to extreme heat increased the risk of preterm birth by 20% for expectant mothers. An Italian study found that an increase in temperature of one degree celsius led to an increase in the risk of preterm birth by 2%.
But female vulnerability is not limited to climate-related changes. Social and economic change also endanger women. The World Bank reports that the male unemployment rate is associated with the incidence of physical violence against women – the result of uncertainty-induced financial and psychological stress. The COVID pandemic also had a disproportionate impact on women, particularly due to job loss. These findings indicate the importance of understanding disparate patterns across males and females.
WiD: What sparked your interest in this topic, and how are you currently supporting this work through your role with Snowflake in association with the Ordnance Survey?
Jennifer: I’ve always been a data person. From capturing data from field surveys in the Central African Republic to running simulations of alternative housing programs in Eastern Europe and Russia, “data for good” was a personal mandate before my tech career started. Later, as the analyst covering smart cities at Forrester, I explored use cases related to urban challenges and issues like emergency response and humanitarian assistance.
As part of that research over a decade ago, I wrote a blog titled “If a picture paints a thousand words, maps are off the charts.” It was the beginning of my fascination with the visualization of data on a map, exploring how geographical representation helps data tell its story. And, those stories have been told via maps for centuries. An early example comes from London physician John Snow whose cholera map in 1854 included streets and water pump locations, showing a correlation between the incidence of cholera deaths and a particular water pump. That was only the start.
Today the UK Ordnance Survey (OS) provides geospatial data and expertise to help cities across the globe better understand patterns of urban use to plan healthcare, transport, utilities, and other social services. Within the UK, over 6,000 public sector organisations use OS data for the public benefit.
Earlier this year, Ordnance Survey (OS) made its location data more accessible by putting it on the Snowflake Marketplace. This collaboration allows users to integrate OS data directly into various applications, such as GIS and business intelligence platforms. The goal is to unlock new opportunities for innovation, streamline workflows, and enable more effective, data-driven decisions across a range of sectors, from urban planning to emergency services. This move reaffirms OS’s commitment to making its data widely available to benefit public services and the UK economy, and supports Snowflake’s mission to mobilize the world’s data and ensure the use of data for good.
WiD: What key insights into data disparity and climate change will attendees gain from your talk, and how does your work highlight these issues?
Jennifer: In our session, Mapping Vulnerabilities: The Disparate Impact of Change, at Big Data London, I’ll be joined by geospatial specialists from the Ordnance Survey to discuss how combining location data with social and environmental data can help identify vulnerable populations and mitigate the risks. We will explore the benefits of open data resources. Attendees will discover how overlaying this information enriches visualization and analysis of vulnerabilities to identify better solutions. And, they will learn how data from the UK’s Ordnance Survey, made available through the Snowflake Marketplace, addresses global challenges and helps mitigate risks. Lastly, we will present Snowflake’s End Data Disparity initiative which encourages data collaboration and the development of an extensive ecosystem of data sharing partners to expand available data resources.
Data disparity is a critical issue that undermines the fairness, accuracy and inclusiveness of data-driven decision-making across various sectors, with far-reaching consequences for individuals and communities. We define data disparity, not only by a lack of data itself but also including:
Addressing these challenges is consistent with Snowflake’s mission to mobilize the world’s data. In doing so, Snowflake promotes the use of “data for good” to address social, economic and environmental challenges and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
WiD: And how can active community members including Women in Data® members – WiD’s actively contribute to addressing social and environmental challenges faced by women and girls?
Jennifer: WiD members can encourage more research to better understand evolving patterns of vulnerability, analyze underlying causes, and identify potential solutions. But that research will require more data – data of high quality, which represents the entire population, and is easily accessible. WiD’s members can encourage their own organizations to make data available via the Snowflake Marketplace or other repositories that enable broad use for addressing social and environmental challenges. A growing data ecosystem advances UN SDG 17, Partnerships For The Goals. This goal calls for strengthening the means of implementation and to build and enhance partnerships with diverse stakeholders. Snowflake envisions a broad and diverse data ecosystem to expand available data for good.
