- Megan Johanson
Women’s History Month Data Viz Round-Up
In honor of Women’s History Month, I’ve curated a list of 10 great visualizations that reflect life for women. They cover topics from representation in media to job losses due to COVID-19.
1. Unpaid Work Across the Globe
visualized by Nayomi Chibana at Visme
I like this chart because it takes a less-intuitive visualization type (comparing the area of circles) and makes the data easy to understand at a glance by stacking the circles on top of each other. You can quickly see which countries have bigger disparities in unpaid work by noticing where the red circle is more visible- specifically, Japan, Korea, and India.
Unpaid work here includes “routine housework, shopping, care for household members, volunteering, and travel related to household activities.” Another thing that struck me was the sheer amount of time women are spending every day on these tasks: over 6 hours per day in Mexico and 4 hours per day in the US.
2. The Pink Tax
visualized by HowMuch.net, a financial literacy website
The pink tax is an issue I don’t think many people are aware of. The ribbon chart above depicts the average amounts men and women pay for everyday items. The differences may not seem like much, but keep in mind that almost none of these items are one-time purchases. For example, people have to have multiples each type of clothing item and throughout our lives as we change size or jobs we need to update our wardrobes.
I’d also note that research has found women are considered more competent if they wear “professional” makeup, which is not cheap and not included in this visualization.
3. Richest Self-Made Women in America
visualized by HowMuch.net, a financial literacy website
I like the concept of this visualization and the fact that it is showing data that not many people will have seen before, but I find the smaller circles and labels hard to see. Interestingly, not many of the richest women in America are widely-recognized public figures. And while having a net worth of $4.9 billion might seem impossibly huge to most of us, let’s bring in some perspective. Diane Hendricks, the richest self-made woman in America, is worth less financially than any of the 15 richest men in America.
Moreover, it’s hard for us to grasp the scale of billions and trillions of dollars. I recommend checking out this infographic depicting Jeff Bezos’ $176 billion estimated worth.
4. The Gender Pay Gap
visualized by the Wall Street Journal
