Govern Obert, 7; Open Data and Artificial Intelligence, Tools For

OPEN GOVERNMENT

1 Proactive Disclosure in the transparency, Access to Information and Good Governance Act: GOVERN Possibilities and Shortcomings. Manuel Villoria.

Obertura i reutilització de dades públiques. 2 Martín Álvarez Espinar.

La justícia penal davant la corrupció. OBERT 3 Antonio del Moral García.

4 Contractació oberta. Agustí Carrillo i Martínez.

5 Nine voices reflect on open government. Jordi Rovira (coord.).

6 Good Governance and Public Integrity against Corruption.

GOVERN OBERT Open Data and Artificial Intelligence, Tools for Gender Equality

Storydata (coord.)

Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez Lidia Arroyo Prieto Renata Avila Pinto Estel Crusellas Tura Maria de la Fuente Vázquez Laura Martínez Portell Mireia Mata i Solsona

ISBN 978-84-18199-62-2 Thais Ruiz de Alda Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà 7 Carme Torras Genís 9 7 8 8 4 1 8 1 9 9 6 2 2

GOVERN OBERT

Open Data and Artificial Intelligence, Tools for Gender Equality

Storydata (coord.) Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez Lidia Arroyo Prieto Renata Avila Pinto Estel Crusellas Tura Maria de la Fuente Vázquez Laura Martínez Portell Mireia Mata i Solsona Thais Ruiz de Alda Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà Carme Torras Genís [Dades obertes i la intel·ligència artificial, eines per a la igualtat de gènere. Anglès]

Open data and artificial intelligence, tools for gender equality. – First edition. – (Govern obert ; 7) Títol original: Les Dades obertes i la intel·ligència artificial, eines per a la igualtat de gènere. – Conté les entrevistes realitzades a: Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez, Lidia Arroyo Prieto, Renata Avila Pinto, Estel Crusellas Tura, Maria de la Fuente Vázquez, Laura Martínez Portell, Mireia Mata i Solsona, Thais Ruiz de Alda, Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà i Carme Torras Genís ISBN 9788418199-622 I. Storydata (Firma), editor literari II. Catalunya. Generalitat III. Títol IV. Col·lecció: Govern obert. Anglès ; 7 1. Igualtat entre els sexes – Intervius 2. Discriminació sexual envers les dones – Intervius 3. Mineria de dades – Aspectes socials – Intervius 4. Intel·ligència artificial – Aspectes socials – Intervius 342.722/.724-055.1/.3(047.53) 316.647.82:316.346.2(047.53) 004.657:316.4(047.53) 004.8:316.4(047.53)

Legal notice This work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Licensees may copy, distribute, broadcast and make derivative works based on it without restrictions, provided they credit the holder of the rights (the Secretariat of Transparency and Open Govern- ment of the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry for Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency). The full licence is available to consult at http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/es/legalcode.ca.

First edition: september 2020 ISBN: 978-84-18199-62-2 DL: B 18715-2020

Coordinator: Storydata Fotography: Berta Alarcó Ronquillo Pagination and production: Autonomous Body for the Official Gazette and Other Publications Interviews and redaction: Carina Bellver Fernández and Patrícia Ventura Pocino

Summary

Foreword Using Open Data to Include the Gender Perspective in Public Policy Núria Espuny i Salvadó 8

Open Data and Artificial Intelligence, Tools for Gender Equality

Storydata (coord.)

Thais Ruiz de Alda 10

Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez 18

Renata Avila Pinto 26

Carme Torras Genís 34

Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà 42

Lidia Arroyo Prieto 50

Maria de la Fuente Vázquez 58

Mireia Mata i Solsona 66

Laura Martínez Portell 74

Estel Crusellas Tura 82 Open Government ı 8

Foreword Using Open Data to Include the Gender Perspective in Public Policy

The traditionally patriarchal view of politics has meant that, in most countries, much of the legislation and public policy still lacks a gender perspective, and risks perpetuating discrimination in society. Today, now just over two decades into the twenty-first century, the importance and potential of data is a well-acknowledged fact. Data, and the information we can extract from it, is an incredibly valuable resource which can be used to generate social and economic value. Unfortunately, however, both experts and international bodies agree there still needs to be a major structural shift towards publishing data with a gender perspective if we are to harness its value to design and implement more efficient policies and combat inequality between men and women. The General Di- rectorate of Transparency and Open Data is responsible for overseeing the opening of public data from the Generalitat de Catalunya and remains convinced of the necessity and importance of addressing this shortcoming. Furthermore, it is firmly committed to including the gender perspective in data opening as a support tool for eradicating male violence against women, for the necessary visibility of women and, ultimately, to push for the much sought-after goal of gender equality. Thus, as evidenced by our recent report on where the Adminis- tration should prioritise data opening with a gender perspective, there are many areas in which having data disaggregated by sex is vital: from the work sphere to energy poverty, medical treat- ments and healthcare, among others. The Covid-19 pandemic and its resulting crisis have made this need more evident than ever before and highlighted the importance of strengthening the mechanisms for designing and collecting data through a feminist lens, because the scarcer and more biased the data, the worse 9 ı Foreword

the policies, the provision of public services and, ultimately, the response from the Administration. And only when we have data that represents the whole of society, and not just 50%, can political decisions be made on a scientific basis. But this bias is not only found in data. Predicting criminal reci- divism and allocating social benefits are just two examples of the algorithm-based automated decisions taken every day in Catalonia. Yet, these decision-making mechanisms are far from perfect, and can also perpetuate biases and reproduce gender inequalities. In this reality, there’s an ongoing debate about the need to legislate algorithms to ensure the artificial intelligence we rely on is safe, reliable, free of gender bias, and based on the principles of transparency, security and accountability.

To provide insight into the need to apply a gender perspective to data opening and the use of artificial intelligence, the book you hold in your hands, the seventh volume in the “Open Go- vernment” collection, contains a series of interviews with ten of the leading women in this field, all of whom work in different spheres: politics, public management, equality observatories, feminist movements and artificial intelligence. Ten different voices from ten different women who draw on their professional and personal experiences to invite us to debate and reflect on how open data has a crucial role to play in the fight against gender discrimination.

Núria Espuny i Salvadó Director-General of Transparency and Open Data Open Government ı 10

Interview with Thais Ruiz de Alda, founder and president of Digital Fems. “We collect data to fight the ideologies that reject the existence of male violence against women”

Based on her experience of collecting data to make the various types of violence against women visible, Thais Ruiz de Alda argues that misinformation can only be fought with statistics, and calls on administrations to change their models of data collection for increased precision and to overcome their androcentric vision.

What was the inspiration be- to put an end to gender stere- hind Digital Fems? otypes. Digital Fems was born in March 2019 for personal but also One of the first projects you professional reasons, such as launched was “Data Against strengthening the presence of the Noise” which is intended women in digital and technologi- to help reduce male violen- cal environments. As a program- ce against women at a time ming consultant for an American when the far right is questio- company, I realised there was a ning the very existence of the need to create platforms with problem. Do we need data to feminine vision and take actions combat misinformation? with a gender perspective. So, Absolutely. We decided to take we support projects that aim a look at the data on gender-

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based violence and soon reali- we decided to create a platform sed that it’s extremely difficult to to remove all the background find sources of information. In noise associated with male vi- the meantime, there are still po- olence, and we did it because litical parties and ideologies that we couldn’t find any data that continue to refute the reality of answered our questions. violence against women. So, we began to compile data to fight Com creieu que se solucio- back against those opinions, naria aquesta mancança? which are contrary to reality. The How do you think this failing fact is, they can only be nega- can be addressed? ted by data that reveals the truth In our case, they’re not collec- about male violence against wo- ting data on all the cases that men in Spain. go to court, so we don’t know how they all end. If the person So, “Data Against the Noi- collecting data from the Depart- se” was born out of a desi- ment of Justice doesn’t have re to address a failure in the appropriate categorisations, we system... end up with a lot of data, but it’s Yes, it was born because there meaningless. For example, we is no intelligible source of infor- wanted to know what happens mation on the subject. Any data tends to limit incidences of male “Our goal is to make violence to the deaths of women killed by their partners, but that’s hidden information just the tip of the iceberg. What visible and ensure about the rest of the cases? We it gets correctly discovered 100,000 reports of serious injuries inflicted behind categorised through closed doors, inside homes. the gender lens” There were also 20,000 reports of incidences on the streets. Not from the moment someone re- being aware of all this, not having ports an incidence of male vio- accessible data, silences the is- lence to the moment the sen- sue and makes the problem in- tence is handed down, every visible. “Data Against the Noise” single step in the process, but aims to transform these statis- it’s hard to find that out. The le- tics, which, although public are gal system uses very procedural well hidden and difficult to ac- categorisations, there’s no strict cess, into visually understanda- monitoring, and so you have to ble, comprehensible and acces- resort to the archives. There’s a sible information. In other words, 13 ı Interview with Thais Ruiz de Alda

data gap because the informa- llection can be carried out in a tion isn’t categorised correctly, way that can help us understand and this means many questions them. It’s a catch-22 situation. If go unanswered. We know that we don’t have reliable data, we 37% of the complaints get filed can’t identify inequalities, and and 20% end in a conviction, if we can’t identify inequalities, but… what about the rest? The we can’t design public policies truth is we don’t know because based on scientific evidence to the information isn’t categorised address them and know when correctly. That’s why our goal is and where to act. If we can’t me- not only to make sure hidden asure the problem, we can’t take information becomes visible but action to solve it. also that it is correctly categorised through the gender lens, not You also participate in the only sexual violence but also all Metropolis project... kinds of gender-based violence. Yes, we won an international competition to capture and pro- Have you also found that not cess data with a gender pers- all data is disaggregated by pective from various cities on five sex? continents. In short, our work on Definitely. Disaggregated data this project will be reflected on doesn’t exist because it isn’t the Metropolis website, which captured with that perspective. hosts a data laboratory with sta- The problem isn’t that data isn’t tistics from more than 140 cities. published or opened, but that You can consult the laboratory to the collection methods aren’t compare up to 38 different indi- well-designed. We found that the cators, such as quality of life, so- people designing the data co- cial cohesion, or gender equality. llection methods, generally spea- king, are unaware of the differen- Another of your projects, the ces between men and women. jewel in the crown, perhaps, There’s a lack of focus from the is the creation of the Gender beginning because often the Data Lab. What does it invol- data collection is organised by ve? men who don’t understand that It’s an embryonic project to cre- X is not the same as Y. And this ate a platform that will mean any is nothing more than a reflection entity that has gender perspec- of society because it’s a pattern tive data and wants to share it we see repeated across almost can upload it to a large repo- all fields and environments. The- sitory that’s collectively open to re’s a lack of awareness around everyone. The aim is to create a inequalities and how data co- community and build a kind of Open Government ı 14

non-profit Wikipedia of gender visualisation on violence against perspective data. We need a women. space to make this type of data visible and accessible so that What does the pilot plan in- we can use it to lobby and ge- volve? nerate policies from the ground We’re going to help them digita- up. lly transform their statistical portal to help them understand how big So, lobbying for open data is data systems work and, as we do another of the association’s with all administrations, we’ll ask goals? them to participate as an admi- Yes, we want to be a pressure nistration in our Gender Data Lab. group for opening data and also Specifically, the pilot plan will ser- to act as a platform for the admi- ve to create a subsection within nistrations and society alike. To the Ministry of Equality’s portal, this end, in July we met with the dedicated exclusively to data on gender violence. “We want to You’ve also been in touch collectively create a with the Catalan Women’s kind of Wikipedia of Institute… shared data with a Yes, we also explained our project to the ICD (Catalan Women’s gender perspective Institute) and asked them to ret- to use as a lobbying hink the way they collect data tool” because in many cases, we can see how their data collection has been designed and conceptuali- chair of the Spanish Congress sed by a man. For example, in a of Deputies’ Equality Commis- report of gender violence, victims sion to present our tool, and aren’t asked for the sex of the she asked us to meet with the aggressor, to find out whether Commission for the State Pact it was a man or a woman. Nor against Gender Violence, to is the location requested when show them our data. We also crimes against sexual freedom met with the Ministry of Equality occur in public. This information to explain our technology and isn’t recorded, so we don’t know how it could help implement po- which streets and cities experi- licies. What’s more, we’re going ence the most crimes. And all to work alongside the Ministry because the Mossos d’Esqua- to launch a pilot laboratory for dra (Catalan police force) don’t open data, big data and data catalogue that information. 15 ı Interview with Thais Ruiz de Alda

PROFILE Thais Ruiz de Alda (Barcelona, 1975) is a trained lawyer and expert in digital innovation and technology consulting with more than 20 years of experience in the field. She is also the founder and president of Digital Fems, an association that aims to increase the presence of women in digital environments and support projects that seek to end gender stereotypes. Among other positions of responsibility, she was also the digital strategist for Barcelona City Council.

Is changing the status quo in detect problems and come up data collection easy? What with policies to address them are you proposing? would be improved. We also Our association has developed have suggestions for collecting a series of indicators to impro- data from the police forces. One ve data collection, with specific of the problems in this area, proposals for different spheres. however, is the law on data To the judiciary, we’ve proposed protection that limits this type of collection. Particularly for “We know that data related to the victims. I’d suggest that one way of appro- changing the data aching that debate would be to collection model is start talking about the aggres- challenging, but, by sors instead of the victims, and start collecting data on them, a doing so, we could practice that’s not yet standar- make the statistics dised. more accurate” You were talking about the judiciary… The Covid-19 pan- they assemble all the missing or demic forced the courts to faulty data, to build a different stop processing cases. How data collection model. We reali- will this affect you? se what we’re asking is a huge It will affect us a great deal. Every task, but making the changes three months, the General Coun- would lead to more accurate cil of the Judiciary publishes data statistics and, therefore, both on gender-based violence, from data analysis and our ability to the number of complaints filed to Open Government ı 16

the number of resolutions pas- the data collected, which we will sed. The fact that, on the 13th have to explain through other indicators. We’ll need to look at “We want them how to address this lack of information. to use our data to design more realistic How do you think your pro- public policies” jects can help? We want them to use our data to design more realistic public of March, the courts closed their policies. Moreover, we don’t doors due to Covid-19 has me- only want the Administration to ant that women have only been use them, but also students, the able to lodge complaints at po- media, and the legal sector, as a lice stations. None have been working tool for people in non- made to the courts. Most reports technological spheres. Beyond of violence against women inde- generating policies, we want it ed come through the police, but to serve as a tool for social awa- the fact that judicial activity has reness. been halted will lead to a gap in

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Interview with Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez, feminist activist and member of the team behind the Gender and Open Data Observatory. “Open data allows us to see what we want to see, not what the administrations want us to see”

From Madrid, feminist activist Ángeles Álvarez reflects on the difficulty of getting the autonomous communities to agree on indicators for gender-based violence and the role of equality observatories, such as the Gender and Open Data Obser- vatory, in which she participated to quantify the prostitution industry.

As a feminist activist, have the Ministry of the Interior only you found it difficult to ac- collected 45 during the same cess data disaggregated by period. So, we (the feminist sex during your career? associations) had unearthed a More than just disaggregated conceptualisation problem in data, I’ve had many experiences data collection: we provided where it’s been hard to access information on a case-by-case any information at all. The first basis and accounted for all the was as a feminist activist in the women murdered by their part- 1990s when women’s organi- ners and ex-partners, regard- sations first began counting the less of marital status, while the number of victims killed by male Ministry of the Interior was only violence. Between 1997 and counting the deaths of married 2002, we counted an average women. Another difference was of 74 murders per year, while that we also provided informa-

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tion on each case. As a result, by the administrations to resolve the media began to question the the problem. Spanish Government’s data. Are there more examples of Have you managed to over- this type of problem? come this hurdle today, or Yes, the United Nations, which is there still a lack of shared has proved incapable of setting standards in data collection? global standards for addressing It’s a point of contention between male violence against women. In ourselves and the gender equa- order to establish shared indica- lity observatories. The 1999 Eu- tors, states first need to agree on ropean Women’s Lobby – which conceptual bases, and in mat- was stopped in its tracks – was ters of violence, we have great our first attempt to establish indi- difficulty in doing that because not all states believe gender-ba- “The UN has been sed violence exists as a concept. Therefore, indicators related to unable to set discrimination against women – global standards and, in particular, gender-based on gender-based violence – are affected by ideo- logy, which prevents conceptu- violence because al agreement from stipulating a states are unable to consensual indicator. agree” What has been the role of the equality observatories in cators that gathered basic infor- addressing this issue? mation on both the number of Establishing observatories on a women killed by their partners regional level has allowed us to as well as the judicial and insti- identify guidelines. But at a na- tutional response, i.e., the public tional level across the whole of funds dedicated to eradicating Spain, the different autonomous violence against women. None regions haven’t been able to of the State’s observatories co- agree on fundamental indicators llect data on these indicators, for violence against women, and and it’s essential for analysing we have serious problems when the evolution of violence against it comes to sharing information women. We have no way of between administrations. The analysing it if we cannot cross- statistical databases don’t have reference the data on incidences to be identical, but they do need of violence with the statistics on to share a minimum of data. If the budgetary effort being made we can’t agree on this shared 21 ı Interview with Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez

minimum, it’s absolutely impos- domain. I know what I’m talking sible to see the big picture, and about: I was an MP for six years, we need to be able to do this and I know precisely how proble- to implement public policies, not just oversee political action. “The autonomous Are there any successes that regions haven’t could serve as an example? sat down to agree There’s the annual report on on fundamental abortions in Spain, which has basic indicators that allow us to indicators for compile a yearly series to moni- violence against tor the situation and obliges the women” collection and sharing of data. That doesn’t exist for violence against women; we haven’t sat matic obtaining information can down to agree on fundamental be. indicators so we can share them in the same database. For exam- Why do you think they block ple, information from the obser- the information? vatories in Catalonia and the I would go as far as to suggest Basque Country isn’t generally the observatories, which are at- shared, which I find incredible. tached to institutions and work on this data, are producing the And why do you think they sort of crossovers they don’t haven’t been able to reach typically deliver. These crosso- an agreement? vers highlight many shortco- Because the autonomies are mings and draw attention to very protective of their data. And issues that governments don’t that’s a big problem. Given this want to address. fact, my political opinion is that no administration, institution, In what sectors have you ex- body, or NGO should receive perienced the most problems state public funds if it doesn’t obtaining data? report the necessary data re- I’d have to say the police for- quired by the relevant ministries. ces and any data that passes Because sharing data isn’t just through the General Council of about sharing it with the Govern- the Judiciary. The problem with ment, it’s about sharing it with data from the courts is that it’s citizens. Anyone who doesn’t always supplied in pdf format, provide data is blocking informa- never in a reusable form, like an tion that should be in the public Excel spreadsheet. They also Open Government ı 22

only supply annual data. So, we know that many attempts were can’t build up a picture of the made between the European evolution over time. Union and the Spanish National Statistics Institute to set criteria As a feminist activist, you for accessing data on the con- were involved in creating the tribution that prostitution makes Gender and Data Observa- to Spanish GDP. Spain is obliged tory, which used interactive to report this indicator to the Eu- graphics to quantify prostitu- ropean institutions, but the Spa- tion and sex trafficking on a nish National Statistics Institute Catalan, Spanish, European acknowledges it doesn’t actua- and global level. Was it diffi- lly have this information and that cult to obtain data for that as the data provided is based on well? fiction. All in all, I think it’s a terri- Yes. The Observatory is a proble state of affairs. ject driven by Iniciativa Barcelo- na Open Data (Barcelona Open In this project, you make Data Initiative) and the Local Co- previously inaccessible data available to the public. You “Anyone who also call for public administrations to be transparent in doesn’t provide opening their data. Is there data is blocking still a lot of work to do in this information that area? The project shows that it’s not should be in the possible to work with absolu- public domain” te and closed data. The public uncil of Santa Coloma de Gra- “Hindering access menet, which is part of a network to data has no of municipalities against prostitution and trafficking. It’s unusual benefit for the for a local council to make such administrations, and an effort to extract data, and I think they should this project has highlighted the amount of information that’s still have overcome this impossible to obtain and how hurdle by now” the European institutions force states to pass on certain data must be able to play with the that they don’t then reflect in data, cross-reference it to high- their statistics. As an example, I light other aspects that were not 23 ı Interview with Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez

initially exposed. What’s more, tions hold more disaggregated hindering access to data has no data but they don’t cross it. For benefit for the administrations, example, it’s hard to find sex-di- and I think they should have saggregated data on evictions. If overcome this hurdle by now. we had that data, we could see Lots of organisations could use whose name the mortgage was data cross-checking to do part in. Then there are specific cases of their job for them. For exam- such as the Ministry of the Inte- ple, why is it that the only pu- rior, which in May 2020 opened blic information we have about crime data without any of it being prostitution comes from police disaggregated by sex. It’s a step inspections of dating clubs when backwards because we thought NGOs have been working in the we had overcome that problem. field for decades? They are the If that concept disappears, we’ll ones with data on the evolution have statistical issues in the fu- of prostitution in our country and ture. are the first to detect changes in trends. Public administrations What sort of issues? should expand subsidies so that In many statistics, the concept other organisations with access of sex is disappearing and being to sensitive data can establish replaced by gender, which is an shared databases. unscientific concept. One thing is what you are, and another Have you found evidence of is what you feel you are. Your gender bias in data collecti- sex isn’t felt; it’s observed. It’s on? a biological category linked to Not in relation to violence. But genitality. These days, elements I do think we need to be more are being introduced to replace ambitious. For example, the this analytical category as a sta- Spanish Government Delegation tistical indicator and, therefore, against Gender Violence produ- we’re losing the possibility of ced a document on the indica- identifying everything to do with tors that should be used, yet the sex discrimination. This is where Observatory only collects 30% of the gravity of the situation lies. these indicators. Disaggregating data by sex has been crucial for feminism and And what about disaggrega- equality policies as it has allo- tion by sex? Have you found wed us to put data on the table a lack of data? and, based on that data, react The majority of public data I in one way or another. We now access is disaggregated. The realise there’s a sector attemp- problem is that the administra- ting to paint the eradication of an Open Government ı 24

indicator that identifies discrimi- scientific, we must differentiate nation on the grounds of sex as sex from gender, as feminism a progressive concept when, in reality, it’s deeply reactionary. “If we want to be Is this already affecting data scientific, we must collection? differentiate sex from Yes. The Ministry of the Interior gender, as feminism has an observatory on hate crimes that introduced an indicator has always done” for the rape of transgender people who engage in prostitution has always done, and avoid and categorised them as wo- statistical falsification and legal men. In this statistic, what you fiction to ensure we don’t make see is that the majority of hate inequality invisible, as it’s the only crime rape victims are women, indicator we have to detect it. but that’s not the truth. So, how should we handle these grey And what about the quality of areas in statistics? If we look at data? Are there issues there Canada, where the transgender as well? concept has ceased to be intro- I’d say the problem is more the duced into rape data, we find lack of data and a lack of quality that the statistics are beginning in subsequent cross-referencing. to reflect women who rape wo- The administrations often try to men. Therefore, if we want to be obscure data and that wouldn’t

PROFILE Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez (Molacillos, Zamora, 1961) is a feminist activist. The defence of women’s rights and the fight against discrimination have shaped her personal, professional, and political path through life. In 1999, she wrote a pi- oneering guide on gender violence. She was also a socialist councillor for Madrid City Council (2001-2011) and repre- sented PSOE (the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) as an MP at the Congress of Deputies of Spain. She also formed part of the Gender and Open Data Observatory’s creative team, which was founded in October 2019 as a joint initiative between the Town Council of Santa Coloma de Gramenet and the Barcelona Open Data Initiative. 25 ı Interview with Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez

be possible if the data was open. That’s the advantage of open Open data allows us to see want data over the data published by we want to see, not what the the observatories. administrations want us to see. Open Government ı 26

Renata Avila Pinto, digital rights activist, and executive director of the Fundación Ciudadanía Inteligente (Smart Citizenship Foundation). “We have to develop the concept of data philanthropy to incentivise private actors to open gender-related datasets”

Renata Avila Pinto campaigns, as a lawyer and digital rights activist in Chile, to get large multinationals to open their data, and to bring open data out of the elite domain so it can serve to improve the lives of citizens, especially in issues of gender equality.

Democracy and open data. an elitist arena dominated by Can one exist without the ot- lots of small, non-marginalised her in a healthy democracy? groups who already belong We have to be realistic. Open to an empowered section of data and democracy are two society. They don’t need em- very different things. As it powerment to defend their stands, we haven’t succeeded rights. Open data, above all, in putting data into the hands of helps journalists and acade- citizens to be used as a demo- mics access more information cratic tool. At the moment, the about our governments. But idea that open data will trans- the democratic deficit we suffer form democracy is a fantasy. nowadays is more complex The reality is that open data is and stems from inequalities.

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The fractures are growing every small sectors, which is what I day, and when we address the see happening today. issue of open data, we need to be very realistic about the trans- And how can we overcome formative but small amount of this hurdle? power it has, and that its effec- Open data has to be re-connec- tiveness is limited to the wealthy ted to the needs of citizens. For classes. example, in Chile, we didn’t have data on how Covid-19 affected Why do you say it’s an elitist single mothers and single-parent arena? households, and they needed Many developing countries affili- additional help. Having this data ated with the Open Government and designing public policies fo- Alliance were urged to open up cused on helping in these types and improve their data, but you of situations is a concrete con- have to be smart: there’s a lot tribution to improving people’s of self- interest, a lot of money lives. Not having this data, or involved. Opening data isn’t ne- having biased data, is leaving a cessarily altruistic. Many open part of society unprotected and vulnerable. “Opening data Is an empowered citizenship isn’t necessarily also a key part of the puzz- altruistic. There le? Do we need to believe we are lots of interests can effect change from the ground up? involved, lots of Yes, but keep in mind that pe- initiatives that ople’s lives have become very want open data to precarious. We have organisational capacity, but we cannot improve business” ignore the fact that Covid-19 has sparked a tangible feeling of data initiatives want to improve crisis which is invading society. data quality to do better busi- I think a democratic ecosystem ness. I’m not saying that’s inhe- would work better if it connec- rently wrong, just that it means ted with more dynamic decisi- we can’t frame it entirely around on-making processes, beyond democratic issues. If citizens voting in elections every four aren’t given the tools to impro- years. If we exercise the demo- ve their lives or help them make cratic muscle more often, we’ll better-informed decisions, then generate a need for specific data openness only benefits data to help us make decisions. 29 ı Interview with Renata Avila Pinto

And this is where municipalities lanthropy” to incentivise priva- could play an interesting role. te actors to open datasets that Opening data could be a requi- can improve the lives of all citi- rement for making local deci- zens, especially with regard to sions, such as deciding where gender issues. to put a children’s playground. As a strategy, it would work to Opening data is one of the transfer more power to the ci- things you’re campaigning tizenry and ensure a decision- for at the Fundació Ciutada- making process based on open nia Intel·ligent, of which you data. are the executive director. Have you encountered many Do you think that in the pro- problems? cess of opening up data, the The main problem we have right gender perspective is largely now is that governments, like the forgotten? ones in Brazil and Chile, provide Fifty percent of the population is always treated as a minority; “The gender the invisibilisation of these differences is appalling. Moreover, perspective not only is gender not taken isn’t taken into into account but also its entire account due to range of greys and its intersectionality, because rural farming a political deficit. women aren’t the same as Women haven’t migrant women. They are all reached positions realities not taken into account due to a political deficit, be- of responsibility cause women haven’t reached in public positions of responsibility or in- administrations” termediate positions of power in public administrations. We need gender policies and the false data. As a result, we no data that underpins them to be longer trust the data provided by cross-cutting and multi-secto- public administrations, and I thi- ral. We also need to remember nk this is a widespread problem. that in today’s world, it’s the The Covid-19 crisis has made us private – not the public sector see that it is not enough for go- – that holds the best data. We vernments to open the data be- need to be able to play by new cause we don’t have confidence rules, and it will be interesting in how they are published. There to develop so-called “data phi- are no independent and effective Open Government ı 30

mechanisms to monitor how the Is one of those barriers the data is collected and handled. I failure of administrations to think we’re entering a whole new open data? era of challenges in active trans- Yes, definitely, and everything parency and open data. Many related to the increase in data of the questions we didn’t ask secrecy. Today, there’s a lot of when initiating these movements temptation not to open data re- are now staring us in the face, lated to public safety, and speci- like the issue of data trust and fically to police issues. In Chile, verification. we fought to get information about the rubber pellets that And what can be done to sur- were blinding members of the mount this challenge? public at demonstrations; data We need to examine our in- the Government says cannot be formation infrastructures and declassified because it’s a matter identify their critical points, of national security. I’m seeing a such as the deteriorating trust in institutions; the precarious- “There’s a lack ness and lack of investment in independent journalism; of trust in open clickbait and incentives to pro- data, in how it’s duce junk information, as well generated by the as the poor development of critical citizenship and increasing Administration. inequality, which equals an in- We’re now more crease in information inequality. aware of the These are many critical points we need to address for open importance of data data to be meaningful and work certainty” well. If everything I just mentioned was addressed and worked dangerous tendency to want to alongside open data, we’d have close down health information a healthy democracy. This new as well, especially concerning Covid-19 crisis presents us with the coronavirus pandemic. We an opportunity to slow down can’t access the data, and this and adjust to reality, to address forces us to work with ambi- how we approach the system guous data, which cannot be and structural reforms of the in- used as a basis for decision- formation architecture. making. I don’t believe the pandemic reports anymore becau- You also investigate the barri- se when you look at the political ers to citizen empowerment. 31 ı Interview with Renata Avila Pinto

PROFILE Renata Avila Pinto (Guatemala, 1981) is an activist and international lawyer specialising in human and digital rights. Since 2018, she has been the executive director of the Fundació Ciutadania Intel·ligent (Smart Citizenship Foundation), which promotes data openness throughout Latin America from its headquarters in Chile and Brazil. She is a member of the Creative Commons board and has worked as a consultant to the World Wide Web Foundation. In addition, she forms part of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, led by Yanis Varoufakis to save democracy. As a lawyer, she has defended both Julian Assange and Wikileaks, under the di- rection of Baltasar Garzón, and formed part of the defence team for Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.

interests behind it, you realise tivity but that are blinded to why there is a lack of trust in difference. We want processes the data and in how it’s gene- to be more interdisciplinary and rated and shared. We’re now technology to be closer to the more aware of the importance grassroots, more transparent of data certainty. and with more evaluation mechanisms. One of the measures The Foundation also wants we’re trying to introduce is to to combat gender bias in the change the State’s purcha- algorithms that encroach on sing systems. When the Sta- our daily lives. What are you te acquires the technological proposing? systems, we can get our hands What we’re trying to articulate on the rules; with Google, we is not to correct what we have, can’t. Barcelona has set a but to rebuild the system from good example and stands out scratch, to start again becau- for its action on the issue. se the corrections aren’t working. If we don’t reform the way Data protection is another technology is being made, ret- hurdle. It happened in Cata- hink who makes it, for whom, lonia with Covid-19: there’s and with what motivation, we’ll no data on deaths at a mu- always have products that fo- nicipal level to protect the cus on efficiency and produc- identity of the victims. How Open Government ı 32

do you resolve the debate to counteract the androcen- between open data and data trism? protection? It’s not only that we need a more It’s complicated. In many Latin prominent female presence in American countries, certain mi- the industry. We need a more norities became infected with multidisciplinary presence. the virus. They were identified Technology cannot continue to with names and surnames in develop in the abstract, discon- various neighbourhoods, and nected from the world in which the public began to attack we live, and from the social, eco- them. Then there are the ap- nomic, and political reality. If we plications that various govern- continue to develop it in line with ments have launched to control Silicon Valley’s vision, then it will Covid-19. Here we have to be reflect the values and issues of very careful, because highly personal data, such as if you’ve “Technology is still been infected or have antibo- dies, will determine if you can too androcentric travel or go to work. Right now, and classist. It’s it’s a minefield. made by elites, for Is technology still too an- elites. And this is drocentric? Is it still a man’s reflected by the way world? it makes certain Totally, and it’s also an issue of class. Technology is made by collectives, like and for elites, and this is reflec- women, invisible” ted by the way it makes certain groups invisible, such as wo- a group of rich white men, and men, who are the poorest and of a country with no social sa- most oppressed the world over. fety net. I’m also concerned that Women’s rights are globally cur- gender and technology issues tailed, and we’re not going to are reserved for the past equi- see equity any time soon. Pri- valent of women’s salons, where vileged women, like myself, are women drank tea while men did always at a disadvantage, and it in a separate room. I get the that’s frustrating. But at least we sensation that many feminist have the data to prove that gap movements may be tempted to in equality exists. digitally relocate to these female rooms. It’s like initiatives such as Is training more female pink taxis or tube carriages just technologists the only way 33 ı Interview with Renata Avila Pinto

for women, only applied to the protected in that space either. internet. I don’t want to browse We need to design generalist an Internet for women, and I technologies that meet everyo- don’t want to be isolated and ne’s needs. Open Government ı 34

Interview with Carme Torras, director of the assistive robotics research group at the Robotics Institute, which is jointly run by the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). “To eliminate gender biases in algorithms, we need more female computer scientists”

Carme Torras is a firm believer in applying humanistic training to technology careers. She sees diverse and multidisciplinary teams that include women as the key to overcoming gender biases in algorithms. However, she also warns that this is challenging because the technology sector is markedly male with scant female presence.

To what extent do algorithms you don’t have to look for them influence our lives? anymore, but it’s also biased, be- They are a massive part of our cause it shows you some things lives. For example, when we and that perhaps stops you lo- search the Internet for a holiday oking for others. Algorithms can destination, we see a series of also influence our lives, for exam- hotel offers, car rentals, what to ple, when we apply for bank cre- see in that city… This informa- dit. In this case, they perform tion is chosen by an algorithm screenings to decide whether that has detected your interest the loan can be granted and for in a particular topic. They build what amount. They’re also com- a model of you; for good and for mon in the medical sphere. More bad. It’s good because it shows decision-making help becomes you things that interest you and available every day.

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Could it be that sometimes gorithm that chooses what cha- we give them too much racteristics it extracts. It can’t ex- power to decide? Amazon plain them because they consist had to stop using its staff of thousands of data patterns selection algorithm because and correlations without any as- it discriminated against wo- sociated semantics. men. This is because the deep lear- But if they can’t later explain ning algorithms, which learn the decision, who is accoun- from big data and are the most table? widely used, were probably fed That’s the problem. In fact, the historical data that said more explicability of algorithms has men were hired. become a priority for the Euro

Do you think cases of discri- “The explicability mination like that could have been avoided? of algorithms is Yes. There are even compani- a priority for the es that offer to clean up biased European Union. data: the discrimination is inherent in the data because it was We need to be inherent in the history of human- able to demand kind. accountability if they How do you clean it up? make a mistake” In the case of staff selection, you need to assess whether the pean Union, which has issued gender characteristic is impor- a call for projects focused on tant or not. If it’s not, it should the issue, because if a person be removed as a criterion becau- wants to know why a deep lear- se otherwise, the machine will ning algorithm has denied them always take it into account when credit no one can give them an applying its statistics. If there are exact explanation. Moreover, if characteristics in the input data it’s clear the algorithm has made that aren’t essential to the job, a mistake, and we can’t know they shouldn’t be included. why, we also cannot solve the issue. And can we explain the process followed by the deep le- So, these systems are being arning algorithm to arrive at a used before we can adequa- result that has caused harm? tely explain them. No. In deep learning, it’s the al- Yes. That’s what happens with 37 ı Interview with Carme Torras

technology; it often arrives ahe- ded that using an algorithm for ad of the necessary legislation. radiodiagnosis resulted in a 5%

Do you think we need legis- “The bias isn’t lation in this field? Without a doubt. And a lot of pe- in the algorithm. ople in the industry are working It’s in the data. The on it. The EU has commissioned algorithm is just a a group of high-level AI experts as well as several global IT and calculator” engineering associations, such as the ACM and IEEE, to deve- error rate, which is the same lop fundamental principles for error rate as that of a highly ex- governments to take into acco- perienced radiologist. However, unt. My field, robotics, is already the type of errors made by the quite well regulated. algorithm and the radiologist were completely different, so by Is it possible to certify that an combining the two, the error rate algorithm is unbiased? was reduced to 1%. The bias is in the data. The algorithm is just a calculator. What Can an algorithm really re- can be certified is that the data flect the diversity of today’s type doesn’t contain characte- society? ristics that could lead to discri- We’re working on it, but again minatory results like the ones we it’s the data that does or doesn’t discussed earlier. reflect the diversity. At a recent convention, there was a debate If using algorithms is risky, on the need to anonymise me- why do we use them so of- dical data, and one of the rese- ten? archers was radically opposed. Algorithms save a lot of work He argued that everything, down and, in general, if we train them to the tiniest detail, ought to be with a lot of data, they can per- included because the same form some tasks incredibly well. symptoms can imply a different Medical imaging interpreters, diagnosis in different races. The- for example, are very useful be- refore, not including racial cha- cause the number of images racteristics could lead to people they can process far exceeds from minority communities being the number a radiologist can discriminated against becau- view, but that doesn’t mean the se the machines will diagnose technology is better at producing them as if they were Western a diagnosis. One study conclu- white men. Anonymisation, as Open Government ı 38

necessary as it may be in some being used to train technologists fields, can actually lead to discri- in ethics at various North Ame- mination in others. rican, European, and Catalan universities. I’d really like to see And who should hold all this data? “Last year, only In the case of medical research, the data shouldn’t come from 11% of the women the research environment. Idea- enrolled at UPC lly, each sector should manage enrolled in computer their own. Unifying it in one single administration system could engineering” be dangerous. them being used in high school You support the idea of ap- as well and, with that in mind, plying humanistic training to we’re developing some audiovi- technology careers. Do you sual capsules in the SPiDeR pro- think it’s even more impor- ject, which aims to encourage tant now? girls to take up STEM vocations It’s always been important, but (science, technology, enginee- now we’re designing machines ring and maths). that have to come into contact with people and impact the- Is there any specific aspect ir lives. Previously, algorithms of ethical training for engi- may have produced bank sta- neers that you think needs tements, for example, but they to be addressed because of didn’t make any decisions. a widespread deficit? Nowadays, algorithms are di- What’s missing is critical awa- rectly impacting on people’s reness. Once we have that, lives, so ethics come into play. everyone can have their perspective, and everything can be Do people in the engineering up for debate because it’s not field receive training on et- always clear which principles hics? should be followed. Some topics Yes, but only one or two sessi- are highly controversial, such as ons in some subjects. Changing the use of robots in military in- the curriculum is complicated. terventions. Some argue that In fact, some of the material because machines aren’t sub- has been taken from a novel of ject to emotions, it’s safer than mine... specifically, a didactic using humans, who can panic guide and an editable presenta- and make bad decisions. tion for teachers, and these are 39 ı Interview with Carme Torras

What’s the difference betwe- number’s been decreasing, but en an algorithm with ethical thanks to several new initiatives, criteria and one without? it seems to be rising a little again. In the healthcare field, when training a robot to help dress Why are less and less women or feed, for example, if tests are studying computer enginee- done only with men, then the ro- ring? bot won’t adapt well to the diffe- Because there’s a prejudice; a rences in human bodies, particu- perception that it’s nerdy. And larly those of women. Because that’s not helping the sector researchers are often male, they become more diverse. Men are tend to consider male data. Ap- developing most of the software. plying an ethical criterion, in this So, unless we can produce more case, would involve training the female computer engineers, it’s system with data that includes going to be difficult to remove the physical and mental charac- bias from algorithms. teristics of the entire population. If these machines will eventu- Does this point to the need ally end up doing everything for more women in the sec- so well, what role should hu- tor? mans play in the future? Totally, and. in IT, it’s incredibly We need to combine the spe- challenging. Last year, only 11% ed of the machines with human of the women enrolled at the potential. Two of the main areas Polytechnic University of Cata- where this is needed include, on lonia (UPC) enrolled in compu- the one hand, tasks that require ter engineering. Historically, that creativity, be that in art, problem-

PROFILE: Carme Torras is a mathematician and a doctor in Computer Science. She combines her role as the director of a research group in assistive robotics at the Robotics Institute (CSIC- UPC) with literary writing, and the promotion of technoet- hics. She has led several European projects, the most recent being an ERC Advanced Grant project on robotic cloth ma- nipulation. Her novels, La mutació sentimental (The Vestigi- al Heart – MIT Press) and Enxarxats (Networked) are both related to the teaching of ethics in social robotics and AI. Open Government ı 40

solving or handling emergencies provide the more human side of when the computer is unable to care. What’s more, lots of care access statistics. On the ot- home users and other rehabili- her hand, you have tasks that tation centres look positively on require empathy and need to the technology be based on human relations. Social care tasks, for example. “Robotics are And those that require empathy to solve human problems. hugely important in the healthcare Why did you choose to work sector: many people in robotics within the healthcare sector if it’s so challen- need help to be ging? independent, and Robotics are hugely important there aren’t enough in this field. Many people need help to be independent, and the- professionals in the re aren’t enough professionals in world to provide that the world to provide that help. help” Without a doubt, if machines can take over some of the repetitive tasks performed by caregivers, because the act of being fed by carers will be able to concentrate a machine, rather than another on improving the invaluable hu- human being, helps to preserve man aspect of their care, which dignity. Team-work between hu- will enhance quality of life for de- mans and machines is a win-win pendent people. situation.

Can you give us an example Ethical questions must be es- from your own experience? pecially relevant to assistive Once, we went to a care home robotics. to show them a robot desig- Yes, one obvious example ned to feed people. We were is the relationship that deve- prepared for the carers not to lops between carers and older like it and expected them to adults in the home. Carers pro- feel a machine was threatening vide company and conversation, their jobs, but it turned out the play music, propose games… opposite was true. They told If a robot performed all those us that at mealtimes, there we- tasks, there’s a risk the person, ren’t enough of them and that who may be mentally impaired, any help to perform that repeti- will voluntarily withdraw from tive task would free them up to human interaction because they 41 ı Interview with Carme Torras

already have company. Another design robots that pretend they problem is that the family might can replace a human being. It stop paying attention to them should be made clear that we’re and leave everything to the ro- talking about a machine, and we bot. humans have to be able to say: “No, look, I’d rather a person How can we ensure trans- handled this issue”. parency when using algorithms? In my field, it’s important not to mislead people. We shouldn’t Open Government ı 42

Interview with Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà, a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and member of the Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Centre (IDEAI). “Algorithms can also be used to detect gender inequalities”

Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà is convinced that algorithms can be designed to work with a gender perspective and reflects on the importance of developing robust artificial intelligence systems to prevent them from amplifying and perpetuating social and gender stereotypes.

Recently, there was a case in an ethical point of view, we need which the Apple Card system to ask ourselves whether using granted less credit to women discriminatory information, such than to men, under the same as gender or postcode data, is conditions. Can an algorithm appropriate for credit decisions. discriminate? Do we want to run the risk of bi- Yes. That’s what happens when asing our decisions even if it ma- you have blind confidence in kes them more likely to be right? deep learning. Even though algorithms are capable of doing Can we tell the algorithm not many things better than humans, to take gender or postcode decisions like that can’t be 100% data into account when ma- delegated to them. To give a king evaluations? simple example, in this case, Yes, by retraining the algorithm they may have been trained and extracting that information. with data from the past, when But you have to keep in mind women were less solvent. From that it can continue collecting

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gender data, and they’re so my system along with the same powerful they’re capable of re- number of translations of those biasing themselves if they detect sentences into Spanish. This female behavioural patterns, so creates what we call a parallel you never know to what extent corpus. The algorithm then uses you’ve been successful in remo- the parallel corpus to extract ving the bias. patterns. For example, the algorithm is able to correctly translate But if humans have to su- pervise them case by case, “If we don’t improve where’s the efficiency and resource optimisation? the systems, In my field of research, machi- they’ll amplify and ne translation, they’re incredibly perpetuate pre- effective because translating from scratch is not the same as existing stereotypes” post-editing. When you get to a certain level of quality in machi- judías verdes into English (green ne translation, post-editing con- beans) because it can extract the sumes less time and resources pattern that tells it to associate than translating. the word judía (bean) with food. If it wasn’t able to do this, it might What gender biases can oc- translate judía as Jewish [wo- cur in machine translation? man]. Consequently, to develop Sometimes, a word that’s neutral a sound translation system, it’s in English, like nurse, gets trans- important to train it with millions lated to the feminine enfermera, of high-quality data. That way, in Spanish. If I input “Mary’s fat- it will have enough information her is a nurse”, in English, it will to extract the correct pattern. translate it as “El padre de María es enfermera”, in Spanish. What are the risks posed by not developing sound algo- And why does this happen? rithms? Algorithms are created with the If we don’t improve the systems, data we generate, and that data they’ll amplify and perpetuate is biased. They’re full of our ste- pre-existing stereotypes. Stere- reotypes. otypes are subliminal messages that we receive and normalise How do you train a translati- over the course of our lives. The on algorithm? fact that we see engineers as The process involves entering men and nurses as women isn’t millions of English sentences into something that happens over- 45 ı Interview with Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà

night; it’s our experience that take seriously. Who’s behind all prompts us to eventually associ- the applications we use every ate certain professions with cer- day? Whatsapp, Wikipedia, tain genders. If we want a more Facebook... Men are designing diverse society, where there are our entire lives, and this hap- as many men at home as there pens because of a lack of female technical specialists. You might are women in government, we think it doesn’t matter, that we have to begin at childhood. work in other fields; but it does matter because technology is Can algorithm biases be cor- everywhere. If a woman had rected? Without a doubt. There are two main ways of doing it. One is by “Who’s behind all balancing the data; in other words, the applications making your data representative we use every of everything: gender, race, soci- oeconomic factors… The other is day? Whatsapp, by making the algorithms produce Wikipedia, fair results from data that isn’t. The Facebook... Men are reality today is that, if the data is biased, so is your algorithm. designing our entire lives” Can you give us an example of using balanced data? created Whatsapp, it might be We’ve worked on preparing data different, less harmful to teena- for translation that represents gers, for example. It’s like when men and women equally. To do you apply a gender perspective it, we extracted biographical ar- to urban planning. They say ci- ticles from Wikipedia, 50% on ties designed by women would men and 50% on women. Ob- look substantially different: there viously, we’re discarding some would be more lighting in dark of the data on men (there would areas, more spaces for children be more), but on the other hand, to play… Design can reproduce we have multilingual texts with a bias as well. balanced representation. How can we know when a Would having more women complex decision-making on the teams that develop al- algorithm that affects peo- gorithms help to prevent gen- ples’ lives is risk-free for pu- der biases in their results? blic use? Yes. And on this point, there’s It depends on the application. an important issue that we must Sometimes it can never be risk- Open Government ı 46

free. At the moment we wouldn’t ple: in a selection process, you dream of using a machine trans- may be influenced by a factor lator when, for example, provi- as subjective as, from previous ding a medical service, because experience, blondes are better it can make mistakes. It could than brunettes. Algorithms end be that a doctor or patient says up learning these biases as well, a word which the translator but, if you can achieve variability doesn’t catch and, therefore, in the data, you fix the problem. I doesn’t translate, and the con- think algorithms have the poten- sequences of mistranslating a tial to be fairer than us because word during a medical consul- they can press reset; something tation could be dire. If a medical that’s much more difficult to do professional is unable to unders- in a human. tand a foreign patient, the standard practice is to use a human Is this possible today? translator. I think so. One of the things I’m working on with a couple of stu- So, do you think algorithms dents is attempting to solve the are useful so long as humans issue by using data augmenta- monitor them? tion or artificial data generation We have to see algorithms as a to achieve balanced data: you way of improving a person, not duplicate your data so that, for replacing them. example, whenever a man appears, you add a woman, and Can algorithms ever be fair? vice versa: whenever a woman I think they have the potential to appears you add a man. It se- be fairer than humans. We carry ems simple, but, because it has an enormous amount of biases, to be automated, it’s quite com- of which we are often unaware. plicated. Algorithms are capable of not having any at all. If I change their So you’re convinced it’s pos- data, they completely change sible? their opinion. If we want fair al- Yes. In fact, there’s a lot of gorithms, we have to feed them public and private investment with fair data. going into this area of research. So, do you think that human There are large companies with emotions are flawed when it far more technological resour- comes to decision-making? ces and teams of dozens of It’s more about our culture than people working on finding a our emotions. Our education, in generic solution to the problem general, leads us to bias. Let me and focusing on creating robust give you a very simplistic exam- systems. 47 ı Interview with Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà

PROFILE Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà is a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and forms part of the Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Centre (IDEAI). Her specialist field is natural language processing – a sub- branch of artificial intelligence. Specifically, she researches machine translation algorithms in highly multilingual environments and has recently been involved in analysing the impact of social and gender biases on current systems, such as Google Translator, and the strategies that can be used to reduce them.

Do you know of any specific words, information that explains initiatives? the characteristics of the data Researchers from Microsoft and that has been entered into the other entities have proposed a algorithm. brilliant one – to which we’re also contributing – which is related You mean information to help assess the quality of “If we want fair the data? Yes. Because it asks questions algorithms, we have like: who created this data? to feed them with fair What selections have been data” made? What previous processes were followed to create the database? I think this will be to the production of fair results, important when we come to and, in a way, applies to our ear- legislate automated systems. lier discussion about bias-free It’s a way of explaining how credit decisions. In the same I’ve trained my algorithm. If I’ve way that electronic chips all carry used partial data, it could have a datasheet, a specification file serious repercussions. that provides information about its technical properties, such as Could it be a way of deman- how much voltage it can withs- ding accountability? tand, among other things, the Exactly. It’s a way of explaining initiative proposes the creation of the system because you’re re- a datasheet for datasets. In other porting on your data. Open Government ı 48

What’s important to keep in analyse thousands of films (to an mind when collecting data to extent a human would be unable feed an algorithm? to), to determine the number of In my field, it’s having a broad re- male and female appearances presentation. To detect diseases, in films. The result was an enor- it’s no good only having x-rays of mous imbalance in favour of the 40-year-old men who weigh 80 male gender. The same happens kilos… A robust system needs x- in literature. rays from all genders and ages. The data has to be enormously Do people who work in artifi- diverse, and the data collection cial intelligence receive trai- must be representative of the ning in ethics? problem we want to treat. Yes, but only recently. In my generation, they weren’t any requi- How can organisations cam- red ethics subjects for telecom- paigning for gender equality munications engineers. benefit from algorithms? Well, the Administration, or any What are the main ethical entity, could start to apply the concerns in your field of re- datasheets I mentioned ear- search? lier – the ones that identify the For me, it’s how to ensure my characteristics of the data – to algorithms produce unbiased their databases. From another results. How to train them with perspective, they could also use the correct data: information that’s representative of soci- “Algorithms ety and doesn’t amplify stereotypes. can also be used to detect gender If artificial intelligence ke- inequalities” eps getting better, what role should humans play in the future? the algorithms to detect inequa- We have to view AI as a tool for lities. For example, there have improving human capabilities. been projects aimed at iden- Like the bionic woman. I loved tifying gender inequalities in ci- that series. nema. They used algorithms to 49 ı Interview with Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà Open Government ı 50

Interview with Lidia Arroyo, spokesperson for the Generalitat de Ca- talunya’s Data and Calculations Workgroup for the Gender Equality Observatory. “We need to go one step further and not only collect data disaggregated by sex, but also by gender identity”

Sociologist Lidia Arroyo warns that without sex-disaggregated data, we cannot implement effective policies to combat inequality between men and women. She also believes in collecting data disaggregated by gender identity, because it’s not always the same as the sex assigned to us at birth.

Can inequality be tackled by gender-based violence. Other publishing data that makes it concepts have been introduced visible? as well, such as violence in pu- Without knowledge, we can’t blic spaces, femicide, sexual vi- make progress towards equa- olence… The data has allowed lity, especially at a time when, us to gather more knowledge traditionally, those who have about violence against women the power to provide qualitative in order to make it visible, not and quantitative data have the only the violence that occurs in power to put the focus where families and between couples, they want it. We’ve seen how but also the structural violence data collection has changed the perpetrated against women. concept of domestic violence to This visibility then raises soci-

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al awareness of the impact of mic and business growth indi- this violence. What I’m trying to cators… but this simply isn’t the say with these examples is that case. Therefore, we run the risk having data transforms an indi- of designing policies that might vidual problem into a societal be incredibly innovative but also one, and that standpoint allows reinforce gender inequalities, and us to identify structural gender this will create an uneven society inequalities and design preven- that moves to different rhythms tive policies. and will not be sustainable in the future. Moreover, gender On that basis, is it essenti- mainstreaming is mandated by al to open more data with a law and should be applied to all gender perspective? Is it so- policies and all statistical infor- mething we still need to do? mation. Open data policy must incorporate the gender perspective What is the role of the Ca- in the collection of all data be- talan Government’s Gender cause if not, digital and social Equality Observatory? innovation moves forward in The Observatory is a govern- parameters without gender. We ment advisory body attached to find that, in policies not speci- the Catalan Women’s Institute, fically about gender, the sex which brings together socio- variable is not regarded as a economic entities from across priority nor as strategically important, to the point that data “The role of the isn’t even sex-disaggregated. As a consequence, many inno- Observatory is vative or technological solutions to identify priority are designed using open data, areas for providing but without any consideration of their impact on gender inequa- knowledge and lity. The end result is solutions designing equality that only benefit one part of the policies” population and reproduce inequalities. Catalonia. I’m the spokes- Is it necessary, then, to have person for the Data and Cal- a more structural view of the culations Workgroup, and I data? represent Catalonia’s Official Yes. Some indicators might Association of Political Science seem gender-neutral, such as and Sociology Professionals. health, unemployment, econo- The role of the Observatory is 53 ı Interview with Lidia Arroyo

to identify priority areas for pro- and lacks statistical represen- viding knowledge and desig- tation. We find this problem ning policies that can take us with lots of surveys carried on one step closer to equality. At a national level in Spain, like the the Data Group, we’re working Labour Force Survey (EPA). In on a guide which will contain that one specifically, you can recommendations on how to cross the data for Spain, but not incorporate the gender pers- the data for Catalonia because pective in the collection, analy- the sample size is insufficient. sis and dissemination of data. This is where I think more of the The guide will be issued to all budget should be allocated so the Government’s departments. that the sex variable can be re- Some departments are already presentative. compliant, but we still receive data that is not disaggregated What other problems do you by sex, and it must be. encounter? The sex is indicator is a variable From which main areas is it that’s generally available to us, more difficult to obtain data but data collection needs to go disaggregated by sex? a step further and also collect Well, it’s the departments that aren’t gender specialists. They “Breaking the gender either don’t have data disaggregated by sex at all, or they co- bias is extremely llect it but then don’t analyse it. difficult, but it’s a One of the other fundamental matter of priorities, problems we have is not being able to cross-reference varia- political will and bles to reveal hidden inequa- resources” lities. For example, we might have unemployment figures by gender identity. If not, we inter- sex but not by sex and age be- pret the sex of a person as con- cause when the data collection gruent with the sex assigned to was designed, they didn’t take them at birth, but we leave out that variable into account for the transgender collective, or statistical purposes. There are we don’t know how to interpret also issues around the repre- their responses. That’s why it’s sentativeness of the surveys, in important we ask about gender other words, we can’t find the identity; it’s information that can data because when the collecti- be difficult to collect, but that we on was designed, the sample of now believe is essential to have. people surveyed was too small Open Government ı 54

Some surveys already take this ponsibility on company boards, view, and even the European or the representation of women Union is working along those li- in politics. We have lists of the nes. But there’s still a long way women running in elections, to go. Throughout the Covid-19 but afterwards, we don’t know pandemic, we’ve seen many how the parliamentary com- surveys intended to measure mittees are run, whether these gender inequality during the women are present there and lockdown by analysing worklo- what power they have in those ads and care duties, but they committees. There should be a don’t ask about the couple’s secondary data collection, or the sex or gender identity and take collection should be standardi- it for granted that it is a male/fe- sed. Some aspects of gender male binomial. So, either some inequality are more invisible and answers are being misinterpre- relate to formal and informal ted, or we can’t draw any con- power over the person making clusions about the distribution of decisions. Breaking the gender tasks because there is a bias. bias is extremely difficult, but it’s a matter of priorities, political will Apart from gender identity, and resources. are we missing any other indicators in data collection? The Observatory has also Yes, and, in many cases, we been involved in creating need to improve the ones we do the Gender Equality Index to have. For example, with regard measure and compare ine- to women in positions of res- qualities between men and

PROFILE Lidia Arroyo Prieto is a sociologist and an expert in gender and ICT. She is a member of the GENTIC research group (Gender and ICT: researching gender in the network society) at the IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). As a researcher, she partici- pates in several European projects on gender equality and science, and has published various papers. She’s also the spokesperson for the Data and Calculations Workgroup at the Gender Equality Observatory, a government advisory body attached to the Catalan Women’s Institute. 55 ı Interview with Lidia Arroyo

women across different co- analyse the impact of our work untries. According to this in- on public policy. But to do dex, Catalonia ranks ninth in that, you have to have indica- gender equality in Europe… tors from before and after the Every country tries to homogeni- policy is implemented. This is se their indicators, but then the why we’re also considering availability of data might chan- producing a guide that de- ge in one country or several. signs these indicators, which If we’ve had such a hard time can then be used to track po- measuring the occurrence of licies. We must include this in Covid-19, imagine the problems our vision for the way forward.

“We need to What are the Observatory’s objectives for the future? understand what Our most immediate objective is data we have to to create the guide we discus- predict how the sed before, to become aware as an Administration of the need to implementation of push for the disaggregation of policies will affect data by sex across the board. gender inequality” If we can do that, we will have been successful. With regard to open data, we need to link to we encounter when trying to co- the traditional gender indicators llect data on non-standardised used by the departments to see social indicators. Lots of data how they can be incorporated, is systematised, but others, like in one way or another, into open the political participation index, data. We need to understand aren’t. In other words, because what data we have to assess each country collects data in its the implications of implementing own way, some indicators aren’t gender policies. It’s not a ques- standardised, and that makes tion of favouring women but of any comparison between coun- anticipating what effect those tries unreliable. policies will have on inequality. We also need to ensure that One of the functions of the gender is always included when Observatory is to analyse opening data and that we incre- the impact of public policies ase the awareness of why it’s on gender equality. Have you relevant to technological inno- come to any conclusions yet? vation and strategic measures. The Observatory has a In another area, we’re looking workgroup whose job is to at how to collect data related to Open Government ı 56

the gender equality aspects of bles to see if gender is relevant the Sustainable Development in any way. We know that the in- Goals. This line of our work has cidence of coronavirus is related encouraged us to collect data to social aspects, such as work on new aspects, such as gen- and care. So, we want to see if der inequalities in the information gender inequality influences the society or how using the Internet spread of the disease. We’re relates to female empowerment, starting from the hypothesis that and we’re also, therefore, having occupational segregation affects to think about how we can me- the prevalence of Covid-19. I.e., asure them. because women tend to work more in certain professions than As a sociologist and mem- others (the health sector, super- ber of the Gender and ICT market cashiers, carers…) they Research Group (IN3-UOC), have greater exposure to the you also lead the Data COVID disease and are more at risk of Gender project. What does it infection. involve? We won a tender put forward by The aim is also to open that the Catalan Agency for Health data and make it accessible Quality and Evaluation (AQuAS) to everyone, right? with an open data project that Yes, we won this research pro- aims to carry out a cross-secti- ject with the help of the Barcelo- onal and intersectional analysis na Open Data Initiative. Fifteen of the incidence of Covid-19 winning projects were selected through a gender lens. We want by AQuAS (the Catalan Agency for Health Quality and Evaluati- “Our thesis is on), but ours is the only cross- sectional and intersectional that occupational research project with a gender segregation and the perspective. We want to look at sexual division of not only how the disease affects men and women, but also whet- labour put women her age or employment status at a greater risk increase its impact. Our thesis of contracting is that occupational segregation and the sexual division of la- Covid-19” bour put women at greater risk. Once we’ve analysed the data, to find out if the illness affects Barcelona Open Data will build men or women more by crossing an accessible open data portal. several socio-economic varia- We hope the results of the pro- 57 ı Interview with Lidia Arroyo

ject will contribute to improving design and evaluation of public knowledge around the impact of policies that meet the needs of coronavirus in relation to existing all citizens. social inequalities, and guide the Open Government ı 58

Interview with Maria de la Fuente Vázquez, director of the Observatori Quotidiana (the Everyday Life Observatory). “We need data to disassemble the mirage of equality and review the masculine norms on what’s acceptable and what’s not”

From the Observatori Quotidiana, Maria de la Fuente Vázquez highlights the need for more indicators to analyse the real sco- pe of gender inequalities and overcome the mirage of equality, which, in her opinion, can only be disassembled by data.

The Observatori Quotidiana inequality a thing of the past. At – until recently known as the that time, data publishing was IQ Observatory – has been much less widespread than it collecting data from a gender is now, and it was difficult to perspective for 20 years and analyse the status of inequality. now holds up to 300 current But we believed the mirage of statistics on men and wo- equality had to be disassembled men. Was the Observatory with figures to review the mas- created out of necessity? culine norms on what’s accep- The Observatory was created to table and what’s not in all the dispel the mirage of equality. In critical areas, and to be able to 2010, when we first began to arrive at an accurate diagnosis think about it, the prevailing he- that translates into effective po- gemonic discourse considered litical action.

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That said, we also appreciate to analyse them with other com- that data isn’t everything. plementary indicators. The problem with the unemployment What do you mean by that? rate is that it excludes all house- Look, we live in an age when, wives, and this forces us to look seemingly, the statistics act as for other indicators, such as the a patina of science, allowing us employment or unemployment to present indisputable technical rate calculated based on the information about social pheno- potentially active population, to mena. Yet, we believe this is also obtain a result more adjusted misguided because data is inter- to reality. With regards to the pretable. There are lots of ways poverty rate, it’s calculated on of analysing it and using it, and households, not people. And we also need to be aware of the this means we can’t see a per- existence of political bias. By son’s level of financial autonomy, this, I don’t mean that the data whether a citizen could afford to is being intentionally exploited to live alone or if she’s imprisoned serve partisan interests, but rat- in her family unit. We’ve also her that everyone has an opinion found more institutional data, on the data. from the education sector and health personnel, that weren’t And do you often come disaggregated by sex because across androcentric bias? for these departments, a priori, Some indicators are problema- it’s not important to assess gentic, like the unemployment rate der inequalities.

“It’s difficult to find Where do you find it more difficult to obtain data di- sex-disaggregated saggregated by sex? data on employment We fought hard, without suc- issues, especially cess, to obtain data on employment-related issues, especially those related to on concepts like occupational occupational bias bias and horizontal segregati- and horizontal on. These two phenomena are key to explaining the inequality segregation” in our system of work, but there’s no data on them. We know and the poverty and social ex- that across Spain as a whole, clusion rate. We believe both bias triples for women, and this are affected by androcentric leads to a lack of social rights, bias, and that means we have makes it difficult to get promo- 61 ı Interview with Maria de la Fuente Vázquez

ted and earn perks within the tion has disappeared. It was an company… However, this data expensive yet crucial survey for doesn’t exist at a territorial, pro- understanding and analysing so- vincial or municipal level. With cial inequalities like class, origin, regard to horizontal segregati- educational inequalities… There on – that is, what jobs people has been a lack of political will. do – we have a representation There’s also a lot of data missing problem and also a lack of data at a local level. In other words, “Data is often when it comes to collecting data disaggregated by sex, there is a disaggregated lack of awareness in the work by sex, but not sphere. There’s a lot of data, but sufficiently analysed it doesn’t serve to answer our questions from a gender pers- from a gender pective. perspective”

What else would you add to on issues around sexual harass- your list of requests? ment at work or in educational We also have problems crossing settings. The official complaints data with other variables, such are just the tip of the iceberg, as origin, age, or non-binary and we believe there’s a need for identity, where we often can’t a macro-survey, like the one for find any data at all. In addition, male violence, which we don’t we’d like the National Statis- have right now. tics Institute to re-conduct the survey on sexuality, which was So, are surveys one of your discontinued in the late 1990s primary sources of public and contained a lot of relevant data? information about power relati- Yes, but we also come across ons and discrimination against problems with them. One of the people with minority sexual iden- difficulties is that, often, they tities. We’d also like to resume change from one edition to anot- the Government’s survey on time her. And this means the historical use which provided important in- series is broken, and we can’t formation on gender inequalities compare the data. It happened in unpaid work. The last time it with the Catalan Government’s was carried out was in 2011. gender violence survey. Between Furthermore, we have a serious the first and the second survey – issue with the fact that inequality which took a long time to come panel commissioned by the Go- out – some variables haven’t vernment from the Bofill Founda- Open Government ı 62

been maintained, methodologi- derable amount of progress in cally it’s become different and data openness and accessibility. there are lots of elements that Now, all we need to do is push aren’t comparable. This problem for it to be disaggregated by sex. is sometimes compounded by However, that’s not the only way the fact that surveys aren’t well to incorporate a gender perspec- designed because they haven’t tive in data analysis. We can also used gender experts, and this do it by realising that some other makes it impossible to analyse interesting indicators and data the data from a gender perspec- also need to be made public, and tive. We found precisely that is- that’s trickier. sue with a survey from the Gene- ralitat’s Opinion Studies Centre For example? What types of on time use during the Covid-19 indicators are we missing? lockdown. Well, we still need to identify indicators that are relevant to Does this example prove understanding gender inequa- that, despite all the efforts to lity, indicators related to family the contrary, we still haven’t dynamics, how much time we overcome the issue of gender bias in the collection of “We lack relevant public data? Data is often disaggregated by indicators to sex, but the problem is that it understand gender isn’t sufficiently analysed from a inequality in relation gender perspective. This is the case, for example, with cultu- to family dynamics ral consumption. There’s little and time usage” knowledge in that area. We used to use data from the Estudi Ge- spend on tasks, and the econo- neral de Mitjans (General Media mic value we place on things. Study), but researchers no lon- Managing the household acco- ger have access to it, and now unts, for example. In 2001, fo- you have to pay for it. llowing a UN recommendation, a study was conducted on how Would increased data ope- much GDP would increase if un- ning on behalf of the Admi- paid domestic work was taken nistration solve problems like into account. In Catalonia, the that? study found it would increase I think it’s important to by 40%. Here we’re not looking acknowledge that, in the last at whether men or women carry decade, we’ve made a consi- 63 ı Interview with Maria de la Fuente Vázquez

out the work at home, but at the weren’t allowed to leave their fact that these tasks exist. That’s homes fell on the shoulders of what giving data a gender pers- women, who have had to com- pective is, and the figure hasn’t bine it with work and disregard been re-estimated since 2001. the fact that the two tasks are incompatible. The pandemic At the Observatori Quotidi- and the lockdown have had ana, you analysed the inci- far-reaching gender conse- dence of Covid-19 by sex. quences, to which we can add Based on the data you have the institutional abuse inflicted access to, have women paid in the most precarious areas of the higher price? the care sector, such as the cle- I should stress that, in Cata- aning of health centres or geria- lonia, more men than women trics, which haven’t received the have died in the pandemic. same compensatory treatment However, because the key care as doctors. sectors were segregated, and women occupied 70-80% of What are the main results the jobs in the health sector and from your analysis in this up to 90% in care homes, wo- sphere? men have become much more We’ve found that infections in infected. Gender inequality pla- nursing homes affect women ced these women on the front- more, that the impact of Co- line of exposure to coronavirus, vid-19 is feminised in this area, not men. On the social side, and that it may be gender-sig- obviously, the fact that children nificant that the Administration

PROFILE A graduate in Philosophy and doctor in Political Science, Maria de la Fuente Vázquez is the director and a promoter of the Observatori Quotidiana, formerly known as the IQ Observatory, which shows statistical data on the differences and inequalities between men and women in different areas of everyday life in Catalonia. She specialises in feminist the- ory, gender policy, and measuring gender equality through indicators. During her twenty years of experience the gender field, she’s done a bit of everything: politics, teaching, research and technical support.

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initially ignored the contagions suspect that when men worked in these centres. We’ve also from home, they maintained the- seen interesting changes in do- ir schedules, while women have mestic work patterns during the had to change their timetables to lockdown. Men have had to be take care of their children. This more involved than they were, but we’ve picked up on two curious facts: the female role “We still don’t have has been to help their children some of the data with their homework, while the relating to Covid-19 male role has focused more on playing with the children. The and gender, such as only household activity carried sex-disaggregated out by a bigger percentage of information on the men was grocery shopping. An activity that, on the one hand, impact of Spain’s increased their exposure to the furlough scheme” virus, but on the other hand, allowed them moments of indi- new type of time management, vidual freedom and the oppor- in which work, professional and tunity to leave the house during personal aspects have had the lockdown. to be combined, is difficult to quantify, but I think it’s evident Has the pandemic shown that women and single-parent that without sex-disaggrega- families have been most affected data, we could only have ted by it. We just need a survey accounted for a small part of to prove it. the impact? Very much so. And there’s still In the avalanche of corona- a lot of data we don’t have. For virus-related data, have you example, we know that women had trouble analysing or occupied the majority of jobs finding sex-disaggregated in the key sectors that couldn’t data? stop work during the lockdown, It’s taken a long time to produ- but we don’t have the numbers. ce the data, although we do Nor do we have sex-disaggre- understand it would have been gated data on the furlough sche- challenging to produce it any me or an official figure for those faster. We’ve analysed a lot of working from home, a job alter- data from online surveys, and native we suspect has affected when it comes to public data, more women than men and is there’s been a widespread pro- fast becoming a real scam. We 65 ı Interview with Maria de la Fuente Vázquez

blem that goes beyond gen- was a fundamental material in- der. The data collection system efficiency which has meant that wasn’t integrated on a national the whole data collection pro- scale, each autonomous region cess has been prolonged. passed on its figures, but there Open Government ı 66

Interview with Mireia Mata, Director-General of Equality. “Despite there being a legal obligation to do so, we still don’t have 100% of our data disaggregated by sex. It’s one of our priorities”

Mireia Mata, Director-General of Equality for the Government of Catalonia, regards collecting data to measure and combat gender inequalities as essential. However, she also admits that the Catalan Administration needs to overcome structural difficulties to ensure that all the data it generates is disaggregated by sex and therefore compliant with the law. This, she assures, is one of the priorities for the department she leads.

Men and women have the structural, and these are the same rights and duties, but ones imposed on us by hetero- we still don’t have the same patriarchy. For example, taking it opportunities in Catalonia? for granted that the primary duty I would say we have the same of care for a new-born child falls legal rights and theoretical rights, to the mother, or assuming that a but I still don’t think we have the woman will perform most of the same real rights; therefore, it fo- care tasks for an elderly or de- llows that even today, we don’t pendent person. So I would say have the same real opportuniti- that men and women have the es. As for duties, some of them same theoretical opportunities are legal, and others are deeply and the same theoretical rights,

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but women are carrying an ever- we wanted to do, alongside Mi- expanding burden of duties as nister Dolors Bassa, was to co- standard. llect data on an index that see-

Do you think that inequality is “Dolors Bassa was still accepted as the natural state of affairs by women? the first minister in Totally. For example, if anyone history to recognise has to give up paid work outside the wage gap of the home, it’s still considered natural for it to be the woman. through data” I put that down to the fact that male chauvinism is immensely med obvious to us, but that the structural and deeply rooted. Government of the Generalitat This is compounded by the fact had never recognised with offi- that many women are unaware cial data: the wage gap. Dolors of their rights and the discrimi- Bassa was the first minister in nation we suffer because we history to officially recognise it, haven’t been educated with a based on studies from the Work vision of equality. We, therefore, Observatory and employment assume those inequalities with returns. naturalness, sometimes with re- signation, and sometimes, with Has highlighting the wage revolt. gap made it smaller? The wage gap, which currently How can we measure male stands at 23%, is a scandal. chauvinism in Catalonia? This means that women earn As with any discrimination, if 23% less than men for doing we don’t measure and hold up the same job. The same occurs a mirror to male chauvinism, it in professional vocations. We’ve can be tough to, firstly, identify started working on the issue with it, then to report it, and finally to unions and employers, who have take actions to reverse it, espe- been very compliant. It’s a slow cially if it’s structural. So, having process, but the trend is chan- data to be able to diagnose ging. Also, the fact that many those inequalities is absolutely companies are approving equa- essential. As Director-General lity plans even though they’re not of Equality, my job is to ensure obliged to is a sign that things equal opportunities for women are changing. In a world of paid and men at work. It’s a very new work dreamt up by males and Directorate-General, created in in which women are often still 2016, and one of the first things considered guests, these equa- 69 ı Interview with Mireia Mata

lity plans use the power of data labour market and the work envi- to make companies admit the ronment with a gender perspec- existence of their pay gaps. tive, and then generate public policies that reverse inequalities. And what are you focusing on now? So, can we say that, due to At the Work Observatory, we’re a lack of disaggregated data, carrying out an exhaustive analy- many public policies still take sis of data that could affect the an androcentric view? inequality of women at work. Of- Yes, but they’re androcentric be- ten, we’re occupied by somet- cause we don’t envisage them hing as unambitious as trying to through a gender lens. No policy enforce a law that already exists is neutral, so for example, if you launch an employability cam- “We need to have paign for young people with no qualifications, if you don’t do it and analyse all with a gender perspective, it will the data because contain bias. We must apply the not everyone is gender perspective to any public action we take, because if complying with the we don’t, even though we don’t legal obligation to want it to, the heteropatriarchal disaggregate data by bias will prevail. sex” What problems have you ex- perienced when analysing – Law 17/2015, on effective data? equality between women and One of the main problems is that men –, which says explicitly that we’re working with data that’s all official data must be disaggre- too old, and the other is that a gated and collected by sex. But lot of data just isn’t there, and that’s still not happening 100% nor is the necessary rigour and of the time, and it’s one of our standardisation in disaggrega- priorities. We need to have and ting data by sex. So yes, we lack analyse all the data because data, but often what’s missing is both private companies and the the gender perspective, because public sector alike are guilty of with the rules we have in place not always complying with their we could have had a lot more legal obligation in this respect. information than we have now. What we’re trying to do is syste- matically collect disaggregated Are we also missing the data data so that we can analyse the required to implement better Open Government ı 70

and more targeted policies of the people administered to ex- for the LGTBI world? press it. In the field of non-binary Here we have to be very careful. and trans people, the Ministry of We do not want, nor are we allo- Labour, Social Affairs and Fami- wed, to collect data on the sexu- lies has been the first to transform its forms so that the LGBTI “One of the main collective can exercise that right. Despite this, we still need to in- problems we have ject a lot of LGBTI perspective is working with into businesses and the Admi- data that’s too old, nistration. and the other is Is data also needed to com- that a lot of data bat misinformation related to disaggregated by gender inequality and male chauvinism? sex just isn’t there” Totally. I honestly believe that data is our only weapon against al orientation or gender identity the imposing sexist discourse of citizens unless they express coming from the far right. You it voluntarily. So, whereas with can’t fight these people with sex, we’re required to carry out ideologies. Putting irrefutable systematic analysis, in the LGTBI poll results in front of all those realm, it is not so much the duty people who negate the existen- of the Administration as the right ce of certain things, is the best

PROFILE Mireia Mata i Solsona (Portbou, 1967) is the Director-General of Equality for the Generalitat de Catalunya, a position attached to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families. Through her position, she works to ensure that no group feels discriminated against on the grounds of origin, language, capacity, sexual orientation or gender identity, and also that men and women have the same opportunities. A philologist by profession, she spent eight years as a councillor for Figueres City Council, and her positions of political responsibility have included roles in the Youth and Gover- nance ministries. 71 ı Interview with Mireia Mata

and often the only way to refute with a gender perspective. To the nonsense they spout. this end, we’ve started working with a group of experts from The Covid-19 pandemic for- the Autonomous University of ced many people to work Barcelona and, after consulting from home. Are you collec- studies carried out by employer ting data on how this has associations and unions, we will affected peoples’ work-life issue voluntary recommendati- balance? ons that can act as a framework The Equality Commission of the for the working from home mo- Work Relations Council, which I del. I personally maintain the chair and which brings together opinion that what we did during unions, employers and the Ge- the crisis wasn’t teleworking; it neralitat, has started a proposal was survival. Teleworking is an to analyse teleworking. We beli- instrument that shouldn’t be eve this system of working can stigmatised, but we also need to offer great opportunities, but it refrain from saying it’s wonderful also has risks related to built-in and fantastic because we need male chauvinism; for example, to give it guarantees, such as limiting hours so that it doesn’t “In the wake of the become the slavery of the 21st century. Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve begun a Catalonia is ninth in the Euro- proposal to analyse pean ranking of gender equality, according to the equality teleworking. We index. How do you rate that want to ensure it position? doesn’t turn into I think we need to take the data with a pinch of salt, because 21st-century slavery” we’re comparing very unequal realities in very different coun- assuming that a woman can tries, which use different indica- work from home while looking tors to measure the same reality. after the children, an assumption I think it’s good news that Ca- not imposed on men. So, it se- talonia is halfway up, but I also ems to us that while the model of think these types of rankings are working from home can offer us relatively unhelpful. We still have great opportunities as a country, a lot of work to do. Catalonia is it also has its threats. We think ninth in terms of equality, but it’s there’s a need for minimum wor- at the bottom of the European king conditions to be established ladder for fertility and birth-rate. Open Government ı 72

Does this mean that renouncing What percentage of compli- maternity is the price we have to ance is there with the Law of Equality? “Catalonia is ninth I think it would be reckless to assess compliance with the law in in terms of equality terms of percentages because it in Europe, but it’s at addresses all the ministries of the the bottom of the Generalitat transversally. We’ve seen a lot of progress in health European ladder for issues thanks to Minister Alba birth-rate. If we’re Vergés, who has overseen the forced to renounce appointment of many women to hospital management positions our maternity to be and research areas, which me- equal, then I’m not ans we’re finally beginning to talk doing my job” about women’s illnesses. Like- wise, in prisons, Minister Carles Mundo has taken a step forward pay for equality? If that’s true, I’m by ensuring not all of our peni- not doing my job. As we said be- tentiary centres are run by men. fore, the problem lies in the fact Right now, we have five female that we’ve come to see the act prison directors. But we still have of renouncing our maternity as a lot of work to do in education, natural. particularly in co-education.

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Interview with Laura Martínez Portell, president of the Catalan Wo- men’s Institute. “The more data we make visible, the more we realise that we’re not actually making progress in equality, we’re just stuck behind a smokescreen”

As president of the Catalan Women’s Institute, Laura Mar- tínez Portell works to ensure that the gender perspective is transversal to all public policies designed by the Generalitat. For this to be possible, however, she warns that we’ll need more data disaggregated by sex and that it must be opened to the public.

“Without data equality, there Definitely. We need data sex-di- can be no gender equality”. saggregated data at a time when This was the phrase coined equality between men and wo- by Emily Courey Pryor, direc- men only exists on paper, as in tor of the UN Foundation’s practice, it’s not yet effective. We Data2X initiative, which is have equal rights but not equal dedicated to promoting the opportunities. Having data allo- production of data in terms ws us to locate the inequalities, of gender. Do you agree? to analyse them and be able to

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implement appropriate public young boys are taught to lead, policies to combat inequality to command. The more data we between men and women. see and make visible, the more we realise that we’re not actually Do we need women at the making progress in equality, we’re controls to combat the an- just stuck behind a smokescre- drocentric slant that still lin- en, and gender bias still exists in gers in public policy design? a multitude of situations. We’ve The aim of the Catalan Women’s come a long way, but we need to Institute is to ensure the gender make all the data we have visible. perspective permeates all polici- We can’t allow a situation where es in a transversal way. Having some women believe we’ve ac- women at the controls is no hieved full equality. guarantee the androcentric view Do you believe, then, that “The more data making disaggregated data visible can also help to em- we see and make power women? visible, the more Precisely. The same happens we realise that with the professions. If we don’t insist on the visibility of the jobs we’re not actually that women do outside of the making progress in equality, we’re “The demagogic just stuck behind a argument of the far smokescreen” right can only be contrasted with data. won’t be perpetuated. There We need data to are many women in positions of responsibility who maintain male fight the manipulated roles. discourses”

And, in your opinion, how do care professions, young girls we change that? have no idea those careers are The ideal scenario would be to also open to them. For exam- interrupt the androcentric visi- ple, if female scientists, who on through education from an don’t appear in the media or early age. That’s the big challen- textbooks, are not made visible, ge. Even TV commercials teach then it’s unlikely girls will want to young girls to play at caring while study science and it continues to 77 ı Interview with Laura Martínez Portell

be a male-dominated field. There Yes, in Catalonia, every day we was a study on this topic in the accumulate more and more di- United States which warned that saggregated data that can make when you ask many little boys the inequalities visible, and now what they want to be when they the challenge is to open them up grow up, they say they want to help women’s organisations to be the president of their co- make their diagnoses. Conver- untry. But when girls are asked sely, we also have a lot of data the same question they think from the feminist organisations they can’t be presidents becau- themselves. se they don’t have any point of reference; there’s never been a How can we articulate the female president of the US go- two concepts: open data and vernment, and they’ve learned gender policies? that well. For us, opening data in terms of gender is important for two re- fight fake news as well... asons: firstly, because citizens Yes, the demagogic argument of have the right to access data. the far right can only be contras- The second reason is that, for ted by data, although I think that us, data is a critical strategic once these ideologies have been tool. It helps us decide where spread around by fake news, it’s not easy to reverse their influen- “We still struggle to ce. However, data is needed to combat the far right’s manipula- get some ministries ted discourses and forays into and areas of the the collective imagination with Generalitat to concepts that are invented and intended to take root. A good understand they example is their attempt to repla- must disaggregate ce the concept of gender-based data by gender” violence with intrafamily violence, to the point of demanding a change in the law because, from we can best influence policies to their point of view, it’s unfair as reverse the inequalities between it only provides for women as men and women that have been victims. evidenced by the statistics in so many areas. Often, we only per- So, the big challenge now is ceive these inequalities in terms to ensure data is disaggrega- of the workplace, but in reality, ted by sex and that the data they’re hidden in all areas of our we have is opened? daily lives. That’s why we need Open Government ı 78

to keep pushing for everyone to make in public transport is an collect data disaggregated by improvement for women, who sex. The more data we have, are the ones who use this mode the better we can fine-tune pu- of transportation the most. It’s blic policy. the same with health. There are many differences between men In this sense, where does the and women, yet traditionally he- Generalitat stand in terms of alth policies have generally been collecting data disaggrega- designed with men in mind and ted by sex? not evaluated differently accor- They’re doing it more and more. ding to gender. In general, we’d One of the Institute’s tasks is to like to see disaggregated data provide training on collecting in all fields. Some departments data from a gender perspecti- are more on-board than others. ve for all government ministries. We’re constantly pushing for In addition, all gender impact disaggregated data, because reports have to go through the that’s where the differences are Institute to verify that they com- highlighted. ply with the Equality Act. A lot of behind-the-scenes work has I understand that this is one gone into applying the gender of the missions of the Inter- perspective to all public policy. ministerial Commission for We still struggle to get some mi- the Effective Equality of Wo- nistries and areas of the Gene- men and Men, of which you ralitat to understand they must are also the vice-president? disaggregate data by gender. Yes. The Commission brings all There are areas where the issue the Generalitat’s ministries toget- is obvious, such as employment her, with the aim of ensuring a data, where everyone knows gender perspective across the there’s inequality and the figures board. To that end, we’re doing are already being disaggregated a lot of training in all the minis- during collection, but there are tries, which is particularly focu- other areas where the need is sed on senior and intermediate less visible. positions to make them aware of gender and realise that po- For example? licies impact men and women For example, in transport. Wo- differently. The aim is to equip men use public transport much them with the tools they need more than men. For us, it’s the- to decide if policies are thinking refore essential that transport about gender. However, it’s still data is disaggregated by sex hard to get some areas to view because every improvement we things through their purple gen- 79 ı Interview with Laura Martínez Portell

PROFILE Laura Martínez Portell (Mataró, 1970) has been president of the Catalan Women’s Institute since September 2019 and vice-president of the Interministerial Commission for the Effective Equality of Women and Men. A graduate in Law from the University of Lleida, she is currently also a councillor for Vilassar de Mar Town Council and third vice-president of the Maresme County Council. In the private sphere, she has worked as a lawyer specialising in family law and violence against women. She’s also completed several specialisation courses in gender-based violence, juvenile jurisdiction and civil, commercial and family mediation.

der glasses despite all the work March 16th to April 30th, 88% we’ve done. We also have a more calls were received, with postgraduate course in gender for public administrations, and “During the Covid-19 we ask students to produce a fi- nal dissertation that can be used lockdown, we to implement policies and within wanted to make the ministries. As an example, gender violence the protocol against sexual ha- rassment in recreational spaces, visible by collecting which works very well, came out the data from all the of the postgraduate course. calls to the women’s On what topics do you focus helpline and opening your data collection? it up” We focus on gender-based violence and the unequal distribu- an average of 74 calls per day, tion of tasks, both in the private while in the months before confi- and public spheres. In gender nement, the average was 26. We violence, for example, during collected a lot of data, figures we the lockdown, we reinforced the don’t see so often, daily data on 900 900 120 helpline for women, assistance, data from the Infor- and we tried to highlight the is- mation and Assistance Points sues around collecting all of the for Women (PIADs) also poured calls and opening the data. From Open Government ı 80

in. Although the systematisation of co-responsibility, which is of the collection has been a bit a blatant injustice. The figures patchy, it’s allowed us to see a show that in 91% of cases, it’s pattern and observe how, when the woman who applies for le- the lockdown was relaxed, the ave to care for a child or relati- calls became less frequent, and ve. We’ve also realised, through the complaints plummeted. surveys and data collection, that we don’t understand what You also mentioned a se- co-responsibility entails. It’s a cond focus on the division of misunderstood concept often tasks… interpreted as occasionally hel- Yes, we want to prove that, in ping or collaborating in house- reality, women do much more hold chores when actually co- work at home than men, as responsibility is doing it 50% of well as more care work. This the time. We’re not seeing real extra workload forces them to co-responsibility. work less outside of the home, which limits their chances of job Once the data’s been analy- promotion and puts a glass cei- sed, what solutions will you ling over their heads. In light of put on the table? this, we have to ask ourselves: There’s one specific solution that which came first, the chicken or lies, precisely, in the hands of the the egg? Does this happen be- Spanish Government. We need cause women have more work to level up maternity and pater- at home, which stops them from nity leave. There’s two reasons developing professionally, or it is for doing it: on the one hand, because when there’s a need there would be no discriminati- at home, they’re the ones who on when hiring, as men would be go part-time because they’re required to take the same weeks the ones who earn less, and, off as women, and on the other, therefore, the family budget will we would improve paternal-filial be less affected? In this context, co-responsibility. we’re worried about the issue

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Interview with Estel Crusellas Tura, from Barcelona City Council’s Services Directorate for Gender and Time Policies. “In gender policies, the statistics need to be complemented with the female voice, because data construction is still androcentric”

At Barcelona City Council, Estel Crusellas Tura is working to combat the androcentric view that still lingers in data collection, despite the fact that gender disaggregation has been a legal requirement since 2007. She’s also calling for qualitative analysis to counter this chronic androcentrism.

Without sex-disaggregated eds, and, because of this, poli- data, do we not have enough cies cannot be neutral. How can information about women’s we recognise these differences? needs to be able to make Well, through data, social rese- good public policies? arch and an in-depth analysis Data is crucial for gender poli- of the reality. Data plays a vital cies. Behind the philosophy of role in our understanding of re- incorporating the gender pers- ality. However, the way in which pective into all a public admi- this data is conceptualised and nistration’s policies and actions, constructed is equally important. is the conviction that men and The existence of the data alone women have different realities, is no guarantee of a sufficient experiences, demands and ne- gender-perspective analysis of

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reality, and, therefore, our ability reflect the reality of women and to make policies. It depends on their needs, expectations and whether the data is useful to us demands in relation to public or not. The way we construct policies. Therefore, I believe that and analyse data is crucial. Be- not only is there androcentrism cause we’re starting from an in how we collect data but also androcentric perspective, data when we define what we want is often of little use to us when to collect and know. And that’s it comes to making gender po- an example of gender bias as licies. well. It’s not difficult to collect data Where is this lingering andro- on care responsibilities. For centric perspective? other employment-related is- Not only is there androcentrism sues, we have no problem in data collection, but in deciding allocating public resources, but what data we collect. For exam- when it comes to caring and ple, with regard to employment domestic tasks, it seems like market issues, we refer to data the administrations that carry out these surveys are more minded to drag their heels. “Our job is to ensure all Barcelona City What does gender mainstre- Council policies aming Barcelona City Coun- cil’s policies involve? incorporate the In one way or another, our job gender perspective is to ensure, promote and strive and consider the for the polices approved by the City Council, not just those spe- differentiated reality cifically aimed at women, to in- between men and corporate a gender perspective women” and consider the differentiated reality between men and women. When we talk about gen- on the active and employed der mainstreaming, we’re talking population a lot, but they com- about encouraging, promoting pletely obscure the work a lot and actioning this incorporation of women do, such as domes- of the gender perspective into tic chores and care work. Yet, municipal policies. In December these jobs underpin the suste- 2008, the City Council passed nance of our whole society. If it a regulation on gender equity. can’t make these tasks visible, This internal rule lays the legal the data provided to us doesn’t foundations that underpin the 85 ı Interview with Estel Crusellas Tura

obligation to deploy these stra- we need to focus our efforts on tegies and use the mechanisms making sure Covid-19 doesn’t derail that hard-won progress. “We need to see What are you referring to? how the Covid-19 We need to see how the crisis crisis impacts caused by the pandemic im- gender inequalities. pacts on gender inequalities and the processes and work We’ve always come we were doing. We know from out of previous previous experiences that, from crises badly” a gender perspective, we’ve always come out of previous crises badly. The one in 2008 to incorporate the gender pers- had serious ramifications. Wo- pective in the municipal structu- men came out of it later and in res, both in public policies and worse conditions than men, poli- in the internal functioning of the cies to get out of the crisis didn’t organisational apparatus of the incorporate a gender perspecti- house: public procurement, ve, and there were cuts to basic budgets, regulations, internal services. Our past experience training, construction of indica- doesn’t make us very optimis- tors, evaluations... tic, but it’s true that this crisis is different, that this time, we’re not Would you say this mainstre- talking about cuts; on the con- aming has been successful? trary, we’re talking about public We’re in a patriarchal society investment. How we get out of it where we have all built ourselves remains to be seen, but there’s around gender, so the dynamics a definite sense that we mustn’t and inertia are what they are, lower our guard, that the respon- and we cannot ignore them. But se to the crisis must incorporate I’m very optimistic. I think it’s the gender perspective so that going to take a long time, that no one gets left behind. the changes are never immediate or automatic, but that, slowly En aquest sentit, què esteu but surely, we’re making pro- To this end, what is Barce- gress. We’re consolidating lots lona City Council doing to of things; we’re generating new alleviate the effects of the inertias, we’re experimenting, Covid-19 crisis? validating and implementing pro- We’re working very hard to cedures at what is, historically, a make sure recovery plans in- great time for feminism. Now corporate a gender perspecti- Open Government ı 86

PROFILE A graduate in Political Science, Estel Crusellas Tura (Esplu- gues de Llobregat, 1977) is a technician in Barcelona City Council’s Services Directorate for Gender and Time Policies. She’s also worked as a coordinator at the Department of Gender Transversality, and was the director of CIRD, the Centre for Equality and Resources for Women in Barcelona. Her professional career is underpinned by more than fifteen years of experience in the design, formulation, and implementation of gender equality policies.

ve. And we’re working closely invisible, as is the case with eco- with feminist organisations to nomic and employment data, or incorporate their voice and their too old. You also come across demands because, as the Uni- indicators that aren’t useful, or ted Nations advises, we need situations whereby, whoever co- to listen to the female voice in llects the data disaggregated by all crisis or emergency deci- sex in a systematic, consistent, sions, and we’re making sure and structured way, then doesn’t that happens. Furthermore, disaggregate them territorially we have internal reports which because the cost of surveys has mean that, in some ways, we’ve reached unexpected heights. been collecting data on the spe- We know that intersectionality is cific gender repercussions of a highly significant variable that Covid-19 in the city right from can explain a plethora of human, day one of the pandemic. We’re and specifically female, realities. also asking for it to be disaggre- But unfortunately, a lot of data gated by sex because initially, doesn’t have the variables that the public data wasn’t. can act as extra discriminatory factors. And this reality makes it What major pitfalls do you impossible to carry out in-depth face when it comes to collec- analysis or microanalysis. ting and analysing data from a gender perspective? And which sectors are the The main problem isn’t so much most problematic when the structures or the data collec- trying to get data? tion, but the whole global data In the economic sphere, not universe. Lots of data is either just the employment sphere, 87 ı Interview with Estel Crusellas Tura

we have a serious problem. For that’s where we’re at. 2007 was example, the question of who a long time ago, and the lack of pays what. Or in other words, sex-disaggregated data should knowing the sex of taxpayers to have been addressed by now, analyse the impact of gender on but even though the situation is improving, it’s still an issue, and “2007 was a long it’s not just the difficulty of finding data disaggregated by sex. We time ago, and have rigid, expensive, cumber- the lack of sex- some data collection and user disaggregated data systems that don’t allow you to work with the data by sex, or if should have been they do, can’t be crossed with addressed by now” other variables. The collection systems, the most technical tax policies. Also, anything re- part of the architecture, were lated to public space, not only built at a time when there was no urban planning but also mobility need or awareness of the need and security issues. We don’t to process sex-disaggregated have data, for example, on pa- data. We still find that the sex vement, road or pathway capa- variable can often be collected cities. It’s also hard to get hold but not fed into the data analysis of educational data to combat system. The systems need to be horizontal segregation. For upgraded, re-contracted, and it example, we’ve never found out all costs money. It’s a question of how many girls are enrolled in resources and political priorities. mechanical educational cycles. Often, we know that different ad- And what about opening ministrative levels hold valuable data? What’s your philo- and potentially interesting data, sophy? but they don’t understand its va- Well, we’re working on a data lue and make it public because repository structured by topic either they either don’t have the so that the general public can resources or lack the motivation view, download, analyse and use to do so. it. It’s a website that’ll be called “Gender in numbers”, to coinci- But the legal obligation to di- de with the publication that alre- saggregate data by sex came ady exists. It’s a compilation of into effect in 2007… What’s all the available data generated happening? by the administrations and enti- It’s a matter of deciding whe- ties, which will allow us to paint re to direct the resources, and a picture of the female reality in Open Government ı 88

the city and of gender inequality over time. But all of this requires in the Catalan capital across all resources, and it’s expensive. Thus, we’re also convinced that “In gender policies, allocating resources is hugely important for making good public it’s important to policies in general, good public complement the policies with a gender perspec- data with the story” tive in particular, and, eventually, good gender policies. However, in gender policies, the data must all areas. We’re working on the be complemented by the story, project with the Municipal Data with qualitative analysis, with Office so that we can open that feminist social research, with data to the public. the incorporation of the female voice and female experiences How does data translate into in everything we analyse. If we public policy? had a more feminist and non- I think we’re putting a lot of ef- androcentric data construction, fort into building robust data the qualitative part wouldn’t be systems that will allow us to so necessary, but since we don’t carry out multifactorial analyses, have it, it’s imperative we make and we’re learning and growing an effort to make the analysis every day. I also believe we’re more qualitative. Because gi- on the right track with building ving someone a voice is a form solid and rigorous indicators and of empowerment. data, which are well constructed

OPEN GOVERNMENT

1 Proactive Disclosure in the transparency, Access to Information and Good Governance Act: GOVERN Possibilities and Shortcomings. Manuel Villoria.

Obertura i reutilització de dades públiques. 2 Martín Álvarez Espinar.

La justícia penal davant la corrupció. OBERT 3 Antonio del Moral García.

4 Contractació oberta. Agustí Carrillo i Martínez.

5 Nine voices reflect on open government. Jordi Rovira (coord.).

6 Good Governance and Public Integrity against Corruption.

GOVERN OBERT Open Data and Artificial Intelligence, Tools for Gender Equality

Storydata (coord.)

Ángeles Álvarez Álvarez Lidia Arroyo Prieto Renata Avila Pinto Estel Crusellas Tura Maria de la Fuente Vázquez Laura Martínez Portell Mireia Mata i Solsona

ISBN 978-84-18199-62-2 Thais Ruiz de Alda Marta Ruiz Costa-Jussà 7 Carme Torras Genís 9 7 8 8 4 1 8 1 9 9 6 2 2