Role of regulatory bodies in the gender data gap

Regulatory bodies have a great responsibility in the generation of the gender data gap. Car manufacturers, for example, are not required to test the safety using female dummies (@criadoperez2020Invisible women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men, chapter 9). This means that seat belts, airbags, position of pedals, etc. are designed based on the average male (see: male by default). The data regarding the risk of women in cars points to a problem that almost no one is addressing.

Also, when they added female dummies to the tests, the safety ratings of many cars dropped considerably (see: building to pass tests). Female dummies are either anatomically not correct (i.e. is only a smaller male dummy), or are used only on passenger seats.

Tags: #gender-data-gap #car-safety #gender-bias-regulation #gender-bias-in-safety