Marshall Memorial Fellowship: Data Collection for Good – Common Challenge, Common Solutions?

Official statistics on population demographics and life outcomes within countries, regions, and localities are increasingly used to support policy solutions to political, economic, and social disparities in our societies, and as a means to address discrimination itself. Having been part of conversations in the United States about how best to collect and use data on sex, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity, among other characteristics, I am the first to recognize that these areas are fraught with challenge and complexity and often stymied by a reluctance to change. I have also come to believe strongly in the power of numbers to illustrate where we are and where we need to go to increase access and equity in our communities in all areas of life. Especially given our current moment in history - with an influx of migration, evolution of identities across multiple categories, movements toward becoming an even more global society, along with a disturbingly xenophobic response to terrorism - I believe data collection is an area ripe for transatlantic cooperation.

As an openly transgender individual in the United States, I was thrilled to meet an openly transgender individual in Montenegro as part of my Marshall Memorial Fellowship experience. One of the first questions I posed to him was, “Do you know how many transgender people are in Montenegro?” I followed this question with a myriad of other inquiries about life outcomes related to employment, medical care, and family acceptance, as well as the intersection of the transgender identity with other identity categories. I quickly recognized my questions were ambitious, recognizing that the United States lacks official collection of data in these areas as well, a gap that is currently filled by NGOs. The information he provided me was anecdotal but nonetheless powerful, indicating many areas of common struggle among our communities.

Over the course of several meetings where specific data on racial disparities was lacking, I was surprised to learn that the official collection of data on ethnicity and race is still not common in Western Europe, due to historical legal prohibitions rooted in World War II, and perhaps other forms of political reluctance to emphasize racial diversity in official statistics. I couldn’t help but wonder whether the non-existence of this data in some areas is connected to a sentiment expressed by some that racial discrimination in Europe is less of an issue than it is in the United States. Looking at the area of racially motivated crime, the European Network Against Discrimination’s Racist Crime Shadow Report from 2013-2014, while showing an increase in such crimes, points to the fact that there is no systematic recording of racist crime across the EU.  Indeed, in some countries data collection is non-existent. Among other recommendations it suggests a harmonization of definitions and the ability for victims to self-identify through ethnic and racial categories.

The collection of this type of data is just one example, but a critical means to address the underlying issues; victim reporting, enforcement, community organization, and institutional reform are others. Without consistent data collection, it is far easier to dismiss the issue, saying it does not exist at all, and that it is impossible to measure one nation's progress against another.

While recognizing that EU standardization of demographic population and discrimination data, let alone an EU-United States standardization, may seem like pie in the sky, I believe these areas are timely for continued exploration. As a result of a meeting with a Swedish counterpart along my travels, this topic has already led to an exchange of ideas and points of common interest. As a former colleague, Patricia Shiu, Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor used to say, “What gets measured gets done.”

Dylan Orr, Director, Office of Labor Standards, City of Seattle, United States, is a Spring 2016 Marshall Memorial Fellow

Photo credit: DIAC images