This week, we released a short brief about Southeast Asian women, written by Himaja Nimmagadda. She points out that the failure to disaggregate data erases the lived experiences of Asians who come to America as immigrants vs. refugees. These differences can be seen in education attainment and occupations within the Asian community.
According to Nimmagadda,
Four of the top five occupations held by these women are people- or customer-facing roles. Registered Nurse and Personal Care Aide are both top occupations among this population. Filipino women make up the largest portion of both occupations, at 86% of Registered Nurses and 62% of Personal Care Aides.
We are committed to showing how disaggregated data can reveal differences hidden in the aggregate. While our primary focus is on how aggregated data are biased against Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Multiracial women, aggregated data also has consequences for White women.
In a Bloomberg Opinion article published today, Equal Pay Day, I explain how treating women” as a synonym for “White women” erases White women from the data.
The way data are presented has consequences for White women, too, as Equal Pay Day demonstrates. How can they know where they stand if they are lumped into the ‘all’ category? The failure to disaggregate denies them knowledge about their position relative to men and other women. It denies them information about how gender operates to oppress them and about how their whiteness provides benefits. It denies them the opportunity to see themselves in the data.
My conversations with you keep me motivated and hold me accountable. Members of the WISER Community bought to my attention that last week’s WISER Wednesday email suggested the possibility that the women murdered at Atlanta massage parlors were sex workers or victims of sex trafficking. I apologize as such was not my intent.
I hope the death of
Daoyou Feng, 44;
Xiaojie Tan, 49;
Delaina Hyun Jung Grant, 51;
Suncha Kim, 69;
Soon Chung Park, 74;
Yong A. Yue, 63.
Paul Andre Michels, 54; and
Ashley Yaun, 33
leads to a broadening of the definition of a hate crime.
Be well,
Rhonda
