By The topic might make the author, i.e. me, seem feminist, rather old school feminist. There are many jobs that people think women seem to be better at – like teacher, nurse, human resources related, interior designing etc. There are a number of articles about this too. Mostly the argument given is to present the feminine side and take than projection onto the end-user. Even more so, the argument is often lopsided as it does not take into account the jobs that usually home-makers are found to be doing at home for their families but not for a living. Thus, in this article it is not the psychology of women that will be of primary importance but the story of the other side- the point of view (POV) of the informant.
Imagine it is 12:30pm in the afternoon and your spouse or old parents or little children call you while you are engrossed in your work to say that there is a weird person at your doorstep asking questions for a survey. All other things aside- what would you rather prefer? – that the weird person is a man or a woman?
In my personal experience of handling large scale surveys, I find that it is far simpler for a woman to get information and collect data in household surveys than a man. The reasons are quite intuitive:
Women are perceived to be far more trustworthy
The members of the house look up at the female data collector or enumerator and volunteer to provide more information. House-wives feel more comfortable chit-chatting in their morning attire talking to a woman. Old members of the household even go as far as asking questions about the well-being of the lady guest, looking at her with the eyes of awe. Children feel less afraid of approaching our heroine enumerator.
The ‘Woman Card’
Often times, there is a feeling of pity (whether we like it or not), when the society sees a female roaming around from house to house, knocking at doors requesting for data. There have been many instances, when male data collectors are turned away right at the doorstep. However, when a female data collector comes or accompanies the male data collector – the person opening the door feels obliged to at least hear out the purpose of visit.
Capturing the smaller details
If you are a woman reading this article- have you ever tried gossiping with a man? If you have, then were you able to get the minutest details that are so essential for a productive gossip session? Because knowing these minor details let alone asking for them is not considered to be manly; thus when a male data collector actually asks the minute details that are so essential for a household survey – all he gets is raised eyebrows and the side-eye. At the end, these are the ‘smaller details’ that make the difference in the quality of data. If the requirement is getting into the minor details, you will not find better data collectors than women.
Of course, there are many facets to hiring women data collectors – the survey planning needs to be done in such a way so as to ensure the safety of the staff; others involve grouping them in pairs or organising them so that they are in areas that are geographically closer.
The hardest part of any statistical survey, my dear, is getting your foot in the door – it’s the knocking on the door, gaining entry, building trust and striking up a conversation -and all this in a matter of seconds.
In a society tainted by many socio-economic and cultural factors, where women might seem as the weaker sex, it is this very assumption that makes the first and the hardest step a cakewalk for women – getting your foot in the door – the first opportunity to better data quality.
I do not imply that this will always be the case – obviously, it can change too. Perhaps the same logic that is used while arguing to ensure a better society for women comes into play here. It is when the society would seem easy for a woman to live in; let’s say step out at midnight alone- it is that very day that male data collectors will be accepted with a little more proportion of trust. Isn’t it counter-intuitive; making the society safer for women is the ticket to making men better data collectors?
