SOPHIA Oxford has developed a technological tool for businesses to collect and analyse data on the deprivations faced by employees and their families. This tool allows a company to conduct an online census of its employees, and analyse the data collected. The tool implements the Wise Responder questionnaire, which collects information on all deprivation indicators included in the national measure of multidimensional poverty, on income, on debt and a few additional questions to assess the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the household. The Wise Responder questionnaire also includes questions aimed at capturing gender gaps.
Once the data is collected, the tool provides businesses with standard diagnostic reports. The reporting of the Wise Responder census results also includes a dashboard focused specifically on gender gaps. By taking into account gender inequalities, the tools of the business MPI (bMPI) better track barriers that are related to gender and support businesses in implementing more inclusive action plans to reduce poverty.(1)
A workshop in Guatemala in February of this year helped shape our thinking about which additional questions to include in our questionnaire in order to capture gender issues relevant in Guatemala.(2) Following that workshop, we added a few questions to capture gender differences in the use of technology, home ownership, hours of work, and the use of credit.