Representation in mapping: ensuring impact with women behind the data

Every map tells a story. But what happens when half the world’s population is underrepresented in the data that shapes our lives? The gender gap in mapping isn’t just a gap in numbers – it’s a gap in access, safety and equity. Today, data is the driving force behind the decisions made about nations, communities and people. When the data is not gendered, it misses out on women’s vulnerabilities in healthcare, education, access to safe spaces and much more, resulting in critical gaps. Vulnerable, at-risk communities around the world are often overlooked, making it difficult to include the diverse voices that make data more inclusive and impact oriented.

Mapping for equity: women leading mapping efforts

Eneless Peterson is a community leader in the Chikwawa district of Malawi. She explains, ‘Most of the time, you find that it’s women who are alone at home when disaster happens, and they need to evacuate with their children. Sometimes it happens at night.’

Talking about the data gathered in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ana by the Malawi Red Cross Society, she adds, ‘When we had the first major flooding, we did not know how to respond; everybody was in a panic. Now we have these maps that we use to teach people where to go or how to respond when we have such disasters.’

It is also a well-documented fact in Latin America that the areas most vulnerable to disasters – and vulnerable because they are generally also among the poorest – are the same areas that generate the largest migration flows to North America. This results in origin communities with an overrepresentation of women with children, as their husbands and adult sons are the ones who migrate in the majority. These are chain reactions that mean that, in the face of disasters, the people most present and the pillars of reconstruction are women. Women are also systematically victims of abuse and violence by a wide range of actors operating during emergency response. Women and girls who do migrate are also proportionally far more exposed to violence and abuse along their journey, whether they migrate nationally or internationally. This makes it even more crucial for them to have highly accessible mapping information that includes the location of everyday services, victim support services, and social development programmes.

A pre-existing mapping of highly vulnerable areas, available to all actors and to the population itself, reduces vulnerability by allowing people to locate the resources they need or to demonstrate their absence. While vulnerable inhabitants may not have the technical capacity to use maps for advocacy, human rights defenders – who often work closely with these communities – do. However, these defenders also tend to have very limited capacities in using cartographic data, making it crucial to have a rich base map with extensive information. Base maps are the easiest to use, widely available, and viewable through countless platforms and applications. It is common for civil society organisations advocating for human rights in humanitarian contexts to seek support for obtaining cartographic data, which they can then communicate to vulnerable populations. This data may include information on public services, health and education facilities, food distribution points, support offices for victims of violence, migrants and refugees, and spaces for receiving money transfers, among others. All of these elements are fundamental to a base map and relatively easy to add through collaborative initiatives. From a structural perspective, since women statistically represent the largest component of migration-origin populations, mapping benefits them and their families the most.

Making considered efforts to improve the needs of women – one of the most vulnerable groups – as well as their safety concerns, not only benefits them but also raises the overall quality of services. By ensuring safer and more accessible environments for women, through data, we enhance safer conditions and access for other vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, the elderly and migrants. By setting higher standards of information, it also boosts better access for the general population.

Organisations like Women+ in Geospatial advocate for inclusive datasets with a gender lens. Similarly, the Geochicas community works to include diverse women in the construction and analysis of OpenStreetMap (OSM) data, as well as to promote analysis focused on women. A study by Open Cities Africa reveals that women-led mapping is more likely to prioritise locations critical to women’s safety, such as public restrooms, well-lit walking paths and childcare, senior citizen and women’s centres.

In Latin America, Geochicas has been promoting the mapping in OSM with detailed operational information of services for women victims of violence, whether legal, psychological, health or shelter, from public institutions or more community-based services.

The inclusion of public services, healthcare services, and general facilities in the base map by male cartographers – who form the majority of those contributing to OpenStreetMap – tends to result in a very generic description of these services. If a woman consults the map searching for a highly specific healthcare service related to her gender’s needs and the caregiving role she plays in the community (services such as facilities for children, people with disabilities, or the elderly), it is very likely that she will not find what she is looking for.

To address this need, Geochicas organises mapping activities, usually aligned with the dates of 25 November, the international day for the eradication of violence against women and girls, and 8 March, International Women’s Day. These activities contribute details about existing facilities on the map, add new ones, and include community-based facilities that provide alternative yet popular support services for women and girls.

It is also crucial to know whether a facility is specialised and dedicated to serving women and girls, or if it is open to everyone. To allow this detailed mapping into OSM, Geochicas has developed a Wiki with specific instructions.

Many ministries dedicated to supporting population groups, such as women, but with their limited budgets, struggle not only to provide services but also to effectively communicate their existence. Additionally, these services often change – new ones open, others close, and activities are modified, etc. For this reason, the National Institute of Women in Mexico has taken a close interest in these ‘mapathons’, which are a permanent and ongoing initiative.

These examples are living evidence of the fact that when women map, they bring new perspectives and data that drive positive change.

How HOT is advancing gender-inclusive geospatial data

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) ensures women are not just part of the data but also part of the process. HOT operates on the basis of gender equity within its team, with women making up the majority and women occupying the most important leadership roles. It emphasises training women mappers, building expertise of women in tech through mentorship programmes, and creating comprehensive evidence that includes voices of women through participatory mapping.

For example, during Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, HOT mappers worked with local organisations to identify high-risk areas where women and children were particularly vulnerable to displacement and violence. Similarly, OpenStreetMap Philippines has mapped safe spaces for women in urban areas, pinpointing locations for gender-based violence support services and women-led businesses. Such data helps policymakers design more inclusive cities and response plans that prioritise gender-specific needs.

Women mappers in the Caribbean are leading disaster response through open mapping. With the goal to increase the capacity of communities to respond to natural disasters and other crises in Trinidad and Tobago, the Women-centered Disaster Resilience project was launched to train students in remote mapping. Recounting the experiences, one of the trainees said, ‘I enjoyed learning how to use the software and mapping the actual buildings and houses, etc., on the map. […] I hope the information we mapped can help in minimizing the effects of floods.’

The region experiences major flooding events throughout the country during its rainy season, which has had a significant economic and social impact on its population. Equipped with mapping skills these students will become valuable resources that can be activated in multiple disaster scenarios, particularly in preparedness, response, and recovery. During the Türkiye–Syria earthquake, students worldwide contributed to mapping collapsed buildings, aiding response coordination and thereby proving to be rich resources in enhancing operational efficiency.

Women mappers in the Caribbean are leading the charge in disaster response through open mapping, inspiring and catalysing their communities in small island developing states. By prioritising skill-building, peer support networks, and expanding the open-source community, the aim is to catalyse women to drive socioeconomic change. Sharing insights into the transformative impact of Women in Small Island Developing States project in Haiti, in collaboration with the Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haïti and the Caribbean School of Data, Lyse Ladouceur, who promotes IT skills among women and young people, says, ‘This project is a critical step towards integrating gender considerations into disaster risk management and leveraging technology for enhanced resolution of vulnerabilities.’

Proann Francis, Project Officer for YEAC Saint Lucia, leads emergency interventions with extensive training of youth volunteers in disaster response and open-source mapping for future risk reduction efforts. She recounts, ‘Two of our trained young women were able to train others, leading to significant map change and edits.’

HOT consistently works to foster leadership and professional development in the territorial development sector among female students from the volunteer academic community, collaborating with YouthMappers and other academic mechanisms. This includes both acquiring technical cartography skills and integrating drone usage for generating territorial information, while also aiming for their professional insertion into local and national institutions responsible for territorial management and climate change preparedness. This is achieved through the co-organisation of preventive mapathons, where these young women take charge of coordinating activities in direct contact with various partner institutions, as well as promoting their leadership towards mapping communities themselves.

The road ahead in a fast and changing world

Disasters don’t discriminate, but various factors on the ground mean that some people are affected worse than others. The Türkiye–Syria earthquake resulted in widespread devastation. Over 48,000 people lost their lives, and over 100,000 were injured, with women and girls impacted most as they make up half of the population of the affected 11 provinces.

When map data is created, it is not about roads and buildings – it’s about addressing people’s needs, priorities and challenges, which can be unique and different from each other. As open mapping continues to evolve with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), inclusivity and fairness remain both a challenge and offer a huge opportunity. The well-known fact that women are pillars of their communities is even more evident during crises, so addressing critical data biases to ensure adequate representation of diverse voices and areas is the most impactful way to shape an equitable mapping future, where no one is left behind.

The future of gender-inclusive mapping depends on sustained collaboration between mappers, champions, local communities and organisations that prioritise equitable data. By centring women’s lived experiences, leveraging innovative mapping tools and technology, and fostering diverse participation in the mapping process, we can build maps that truly reflect the realities and needs of all genders. Adding a gendered lens to data, we are ensuring that maps are not just tools for navigation but instruments for social change for everyone.

Atiya Anis is a communication strategist and advocate for impact driven change, leveraging the power of storytelling and collaboration to drive social transformation. With over a decade of experience in the social impact sector, she has worked on health, gender, and humanitarian mapping and open data for development, shaping narratives and amplifying change.

Céline Jacquin is a geographer and an urban planner. She has been involved in research and development of urban projects on housing, urban mobility, open government, with a gender perspective and promoting volunteered geographic information. She is currently the Senior Manager at HOTOSM for Latin America.