Beyond the Surface: Gender,Economics and Data Narratives in Public Media

This talk explores the theme of how economic and financial data is visualized and narrated in public media, and how gendered realities are often concealed in the process. Common gender factors such as labor force participation, income, growth, and financial inclusion are often presented as merely facts. However, the mathematical and methodological choices behind these numbers: the averages and categorizations often influence whose experiences will be shown and whose will remain hidden in sight.

The core idea of this talk is that economics and mathematics work as narrative tools in public media than being just jargonized technical tools. When gender is treated as a thought for later, stories risk reinforcing systematic invisibility rather than challenging inequality. By examining how data is presented, this talk asks how public media can represent economic realities more inclusively.

This topic matters to me because my work lies at the intersection of economics, mathematics, and researched-based public writing, with special focus on gender, culture and social structures. Through researching for articles and writing about social factors, I have repeatedly encountered gaps between lived gendered experiences and the way economic data is presented in media, public and policy debates. This talk grows out of that tension and goes all the way towards connecting directly to conversations in data visualization around ethics, representation, and accessibility in writing and policy contexts. It also focuses on the responsibility of data practitioners to question dominant visual factors rather than reproducing them without critically thinking about them.

The talk will follow a clear structure: first, outlining how economic data is commonly visualized in public media. Second, it will examine how specific mathematical and data choices flatten gendered labor and care work. Third, it will be analyzing examples where visualization either conceals or reveals inequality and lastly, it will offer practical solutions through frameworks that will integrate gender into economic data stories.

The intended audience includes students, media people, writers researchers, analysts, and practitioners working with socio-economic and mathematical data.

Key takeaways will include ways to question headline numbers, strategies to integrate gender into economic narratives, and methods for designing data visualizations that are both rigorous and socially accountable.