  Premised on the logic that more, high-quality information on majority world
women's lives will improve the effectiveness of interventions addressing gender
inequality, mainstream development institutions have invested heavily in gender
data initiatives of late. However, critical empirical and theoretical
investigations into gender data for development policy and practice are
lacking. Postcolonial feminist theory has long provided a critical lens through
which to analyse international development projects that target women in the
majority world. However, postcolonial feminism remains underutilised for
critically investigating data for development projects. This paper addresses
these gaps through presenting the findings from a participatory action research
project with young women involved in a gender data for development project in
Bangladesh. Echoing postcolonial feminist concerns with development, the
'DataGirls' had some concerns that data was being extracted from their
communities, representing the priorities of external NGOs to a greater extent
than their own. However, through collaborating to develop and deliver community
events on child marriage with the 'DataGirls', this research demonstrates that
participatory approaches can address some postcolonial feminist criticisms of
(data for) development, by ensuring that gender data is enacted by and for
majority world women rather than Western development institutions.
