Intersectional observations of the Human Brain Project’s approach to sex and gender
| Date | 13 May 2019 |
| Published date | 13 May 2019 |
| Pages | 128-144 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-11-2018-0091 |
| Author | B. Tyr Fothergill,William Knight,Bernd Carsten Stahl,Inga Ulnicane |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
Intersectional observations of the
Human Brain Project’s approach
to sex and gender
B. Tyr Fothergill,William Knight,Bernd Carsten Stahl and
Inga Ulnicane
Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University,
Leicester, UK
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to critically assess approachesto sex and gender in the Human Brain Project
(HBP) as a large informationand communication technology (ICT) projectcase study using intersectionality.
Design/methodology/approach –The strategyof the HBP is contextualised within the wider contextof
the representationof women in ICT, and critically reflected upon from an intersectionalstandpoint.
Findings –The policy underpinningthe approach deployed by the HBP in response to these issues parallels
Horizon 2020 wording and emphasises economicoutcomes, productivity and value, which aligns with other
“equality”initiativesinfluenced by neoliberalised versionsof feminism.
Research limitations/implications –Limitations includefocussing on a single case study, the authors
being funded as partof the Ethics and Society Subproject of the HBP, and thelimited temporal period under
consideration.
Social implications –The frameworksunderpinning the HBP approach to sex and gender issuespresent
risks with regardto the further entrenchmentof present disparities in the ICT sector, may fail to acknowledge
systemic inequalitiesand biases and ignore the importance of intersectionality.Shortcomings of the approach
employed by the HBP up to March, 2018 included aspectsof each of these risks, and replicated problematic
understandingsof sex, gender and diversity.
Originality/value –This paper is the first to use an intersectional approach to issues of sex and gender in the
context of large-scale ICT research. Its value lies in raising awareness, opening a discursive space and presenting
opportunities to consider and reflect upon potential, contextualised intersectional solutions to such issues.
Keywords Gender, ICT, Intersectionality, Sex, Human brain project,
Transnational business feminism
Paper type Research paper
© B. Tyr Fothergill, William Knight, Bernd Carsten Stahl and Inga Ulnicane. Published by Emerald
Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial
and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full
terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
We are grateful to our colleagues and collaborators in the Human Brain Project, most especially
Christine Aicardi and Arleen Salles for their helpful comments on a draft of this paper. We are also
thankful for the support of the Ethics and Society subproject (SP12). Thanks also to Kutoma
Wakunuma, anonymous reviewers, and attendees of the ETHICOMP conference hosted by the
Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology (PJAIT) and SWPS University of Social
Sciences and Humanities, in Tricity, Poland for thoughtful comments and discussions which have
enhanced this paper. The ideas presented here represent the views of the authors. We do not claim to
reflect the position of the Human Brain Project or its funder, the European Commission. This work
was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under
Grant Agreement Nos. 720270 and 785907 (HBP SGA1 and SGA2).
JICES
17,2
128
Received30 November 2018
Revised22 January 2019
25January 2019
Accepted29 January 2019
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.17 No. 2, 2019
pp. 128-144
EmeraldPublishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-11-2018-0091
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
Introduction
The Human Brain Project (HBP) is an enormous research endeavour with immense
transformative potential within information and communication technology (ICT),
neuroscience and related fields. It was funded in 2013 as a Future and Emerging
Technologies Flagship to increase understanding of the brain from diverse intellectual
perspectives and develop technical and ethical governance infrastructure for the
advancement of neuroscience.
Like many ICT projects, women are underrepresented in the HBP. The proportionate
lack of women in the HBP and similar initiatives is an ethical issue, not only because
consideration for sex and gender throughout the process of research is vital to producing
high-quality science (Nielsen et al., 2017 for a recent review), and because multiple
perspectives are important in producing socially relevant research, but also for reasons of
fairness and social justice (Monroe et al.,2014;Salinas and Bagni, 2017). The need to create
truly diverse teams in ICT is immediate. Some emergent technologies are already ethically
problematic, as demonstrated by the misclassification of Black women, transgender people
and non-binary people by automatic gender recognition (Buolamwini and Gebru, 2018;
Keyes, 2018). Engineering novel techniquesand technologies for the betterment of society is
central to the HBP mission, which makes representation at every level a particularly
important consideration; thus, actions on these issues should not be taken for purely
instrumental reasons.
The underrepresentation of women in the HBP has been acknowledged as a serious
challenge within the leadership of the Project, who have progressively implemented an
approach to the issue. However, themethods by which representation of women is achieved
are worth reflecting upon, because sometactics may backfire and reinforce negative trends
(Roberts, 2015). This could mean a significant loss of investment and a failure to increase
diverse representation, thus robbing the projectnot only of prospective talent, but of public
trust and potential social relevance.In this paper, we critically assess how approaches to sex
and gender in large technical ICT projectsare realised by using the HBP as a case study. We
will contextualise the strategy of the HBP withinthe wider context of the representation of
women in ICT, and reflect upon this approachfrom an intersectional standpoint.
Our intention with this work is to offer insights on the HBP strategy which may be
helpful for both the HBP and future ICT projects; contribute to wider discussions on
multiple inequalities and intersectionality within an EU policy framework; and raise
awareness of the risks of focussing on only one axisof inequality in attempting to increase
“diversity”in technicalICT projects.
Definitions and Sources
We follow Johnson et al. (2009) in our definitions of sex and gender because these were
designed for biomedical research and incorporate theoretical aspects derived from the
humanities and social sciences:
Sex is a multidimensional biological construct that encompasses anatomy, physiology, genes, and
hormones, which together affect how we are labelled and treated in the world. Although
conceptualizing sex usually relies on the female/male binary, in reality, individuals’sex
characteristics exist on a fluid and medically or socially constructed continuum. (Johnson et al.,
2009, p. 3) [emphasis ours]
Although sex is primarily biologically constituted, it is not independent of social
construction nor is it binary. When explicit, we use the term “female”to mean a person
identifying as a member of the female biological sex, and the term “male”tomean a person
Intersectional
observations
of HBP
129
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