Working women deserve more than lazy bits of trend analysis

Gender inequality requires rigorous research to help us tackle it

- SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL

Every year when International Women's Day approaches, news publications seize the opportunity to run stories about how women are faring in the workplace. The annual observance is a good opportunity to take stock of progress-or the lack of it-in gender equality.

But too often, these stories highlight trends that aren't backed by research or data. That bugs me. If we want to solve the challenges that continue to limit women's progress, it's important to separate assumption from fact. Here are four questions that I rely on to determine whether a story is worth my attention.

Is the alleged trend supported by data or using data from a reliable source? I've lost count of the number of stories I've read that proclaim what women are doing without putting numbers behind it. Data isn't everything there is a place for storytelling-but to call it a trend, there should be some numbers to back it up.

For example, it's common for stories to say that highly educated mid-career women "opt out" of the workforce in America, without supporting those assertions with solid numbers such as those published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The reason? BLS data don't support that particular 'trend'. In fact, there are more college-educated women in the US workforce today than there are college-educated men.