It had a huge impact, reducing the people admitted to emergency centers, women in particular, and had a corresponding economic impact from lower healthcare costs. In Sweden, the city council looked at the findings and reversed their approach, plowing side roads and sidewalks first. “This work contributes hugely to GDP,” explains Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, a book about how women are often left out of design. Aside from health and safety, that labor, when tallied up, was found to be worth almost as much to the economy as paid work. They also walked more, trudging across often-unplowed intersections, sometimes with kids in tow. While men mainly commuted to and from work, women drove all over to run errands and to take care of elderly family members. It is the same sequence played out in many cities around the world.Īs researchers dove into the subject, however, they discovered that male and female driving patterns were markedly different. After all, the town’s approach appeared logical and neutral enough on the surface: plow major roads first, particularly those leading into and out of town, followed by smaller local streets. Snow plowing patterns seem an unlikely subject of a gender study conducted in a small town in Sweden.
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