Gender-based insights can inform innovative new ways of working, doing business and designing policy.
Take snow plowing: Most municipalities focus on getting the roads clear after a major snowfall. But when you clear snow from roads before you clear the sidewalks, it turns out that you get many more slip-and-fall accidents — and most of these are women, because they are more likely to be out walking kids to school in the mornings.
What about car safety? Women are 47 per cent more likely to be injured and 17 per cent more likely to die when they get in a car accident because most vehicle crash tests are done with crash test dummies that are male-sized and have male features.
In the realm of investment management, research shows that women are highly likely to leave their investment advisors when their spouses pass away because those advisors had never worked with them effectively. And facial recognition technology is coming under fire for many reasons these days, but one important one is that these tests are much less accurate in recognizing women’s faces, especially women of colour.