ABW Café Series: Objective data? A discussion on the ways gender bias can creep into the data pipeline

Data are used everywhere: Ranging from Healthcare to Marketing and Finance, the way we analyze information holds considerable influence in society. In many fields, data analytics has the potential to either sustain prevailing societal inequalities or transform them – however, data are often riddled with biases. To stimulate discussion around this topic and connect stakeholders, Myrthe Blösser and Paulina von Stackelberg started FemData in August 2023. With FemData, they specifically focus on the ways that gender biases can distort the model outcomes by influencing the collection, labeling, and interpretation of data, leading to skewed insights and perpetuating inequality. In this talk, Myrthe and Paulina introduce their initiative and provide some examples from previous research on the topic of gender bias in data applications.
Afterwards, we would like the audience to join in discussing potential solutions to mitigate bias and exchange perspectives.

Myrthe Blösser is a PhD candidate in consumer psychology with the Marketing group of Amsterdam Business School. In her research, she examines different tools to help citizens with low AI literacy protect themselves against unfair and discriminatory AI.