The Missing Pillar of Human-Centered Systems: Safety for Women

Navroop Sahdev
Aug 8
3 min read

Updated: Aug 11

We’re spending enormous energy right now debating the future of artificial intelligence, the ethics of algorithmic decision-making, and how to design trustworthy digital systems. We’re tackling climate change with bold commitments, policy frameworks, and cross-sector financing models. We’re discussing misinformation as an existential threat to democracy. And we’re wringing our hands about the erosion of public trust.

But all of these conversations—each of them important—often skip over something even more foundational.

We don’t talk nearly enough about violence against women.

Not in Davos. Not at the UN General Assembly. Not even in the AI ethics community, where “trust” and “bias” dominate the discourse.

Yet this is the crisis that underlies them all.

Why It Matters Now

If we’re serious about building human-centered systems—systems that reflect dignity, interdependence, and justice—we have to look at the actual conditions under which half the world’s population lives.

Behind algorithmic bias lies centuries of gendered power dynamics. Behind climate vulnerability lies the fact that women and girls are often the first to suffer and the last to recover. Behind every trust crisis in institutions lies a pattern of silencing survivors and protecting abusers.

To ignore this is not just a moral failure—it’s a design flaw.

The Data We Refuse to Look At

The statistics are staggering, and yet they’re routinely ignored in professional settings—especially ones like LinkedIn that prize positivity and career polish. But silence helps no one.

Globally, nearly 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence, most often by an intimate partner (WHO, 2021).
In 2023 alone, more than 51,000 women and girls were killed by family members—140 lives lost every day (UNODC).

Even in the most advanced economies, systemic abuse—psychological, economic, and institutional—remains largely unaddressed. And most survivors never report it.

This is not a side issue. It is the terrain on which all other systemic problems are built.

What This Means for Human-Centered Design

Human-centered systems, as we define them at The Digital Economist, are not just about better UI or inclusive data sets. They are about power, participation, and protection.

This is why we’ve spent years designing governance frameworks that center these principles—especially in fragile, emerging, or digitally transforming economies.

With The World Bank Group, we’ve supported the development of national GovTech strategies that explicitly address gender gaps in digital access, public service delivery, and leadership—designing governance systems that center equity, build trust, and ensure that digital transformation uplifts rather than excludes, as emphasized in the latest work on GovTech and gender equity.

With numerous leading global organizations, we’ve supported initiatives that redefine women’s roles in executive leadership—not by “empowerment” rhetoric alone, but by changing the incentives, policies, and structures that have kept women excluded, underpaid, and unheard.

And in our policy work on climate resilience, we’ve advocated for a new social contract—one that extends the UN’s “Responsibility to Protect” to climate and digital governance, recognizing that without human security for all, there is no sustainable future.

The Economic Case for Justice

The gender gap isn’t just a human rights issue—it’s an economic crisis.

A 2018 World Bank report estimated that bringing women’s earnings up to male levels would add $160 trillion to global wealth (World Bank).
The US economy alone could grow by 8.7% if women had equal labor force participation; Japan by 14%; France by 17%.

So when we talk about innovation, growth, or resilience without addressing gender-based violence and exclusion, we’re not just being unjust—we’re being economically irrational.

A Deeper Reckoning Is Overdue

We can’t build trustworthy AI systems on top of cultures that dismiss women’s pain. We can’t build climate resilience in a world that keeps women out of decision-making. We can’t claim to be ethical designers, investors, or leaders if we ignore the most widespread, normalized form of violence on the planet.

To those working on AI ethics, climate finance, digital identity, or institutional trust:

Start here. This is where human-centered design begins—not with the interface, but with what we choose to see, name, and act upon.

Let’s Build What Matters

At The Digital Economist, we will continue to challenge extractive systems and co-create a future where inclusion is not an afterthought—but a starting point.

Our work won’t stop at naming the crisis. We’re here to rewire the system.