Council on Foreign Relations
Growing economies through gender parity
With greater gender equality the global economy would look radically different – just how different and what it would take to get there was the focus of our collaboration with The Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Building on a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, we developed a data-rich interactive that offers policy and economic leaders a clear picture of the positive relationship between women’s economic participation and GDP growth. Blending quantitative data with editorial narrative, we aimed to inform political discourse and inspire action towards a more inclusive and ultimately prosperous global economy.
It was critical that our design conveyed the overwhelming economic potential of gender equality – that no visitor to the site leaves without a firm understanding of the tremendous gains waiting to be realized. As such, we led with a bold and striking data visualization of the $28 trillion that could be added to the global economy with total gender parity. In this global view, regions are mapped as circles whose size corresponds to their estimated GDP growth and can be expanded to view individual country data – providing greater granularity while reinforcing the notion that all economies can benefit from greater equality.
From the moment a user arrives the experience is centered around their country using geographic detection. Rather than asking users to find meaning or useful insights in the data, we provide visual cues throughout. A country’s region is highlighted in orange in the main hero visualization and as a user scrolls, a sticky navigation indicates the ability to compare against other countries. By default, the experience is set to compare one’s country to the best performing in their region, ultimately inspiring a race to the top.
In addition to providing a clear framework for measuring a country’s performance relative to others, the experience also offers a portrait of what the path towards parity may look like. The case studies landing page surfaces unique insights from longer-form content, making it possible for users to quickly cover a wide terrain of economic and political strategies for improving women’s participation in the labor force.
