PROMOTING GENDER STATISTICS

IN EVIDENCE-BASED POLICYMAKING

2nd Global Forum on Gender Statistics, January 2009

Neda JafarStatistics Division

UN ESCWAjafarn@un.org

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basics equal treatment of 50% basic human

right

significant differences in roles and responsibilities; inequality gap

impact of policies are different on women and men

policies and programmes fail and cost

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a revival of gender statistics gauge the gap of inequality

empower those who need it with evidence

needed at the sub-national and national level

contribute to creating equal access to opportunities

underline the importance of women and men separately

unmask the gender differences of a population

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LINKING WITH INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

develop an information-gathering monitoring system

keep up with the global commitments to achieve gender equality and empowering women- CEDAW, BPfA & MDG

framework to provide both policy makers and statisticians with a tool to measure changes and monitor implementation

GENDER-SENSITIVE POLICY

Gender-neutral policies Presumption of a homogeneous group of

people Misjudge the different impact of the policies on

each group Gap between policy and practice Lack of sex-disaggregated data and gender

sensitive indicators Inadequate analysis

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Gender statistics in policy cycle

1. Identify gender inequality issues: Sex-disaggregated statistics 2. Define

goals/outcomes: Benchmark indicators/ equality/empowerment

outcome indicators

3. Define input: Assessments of data

availability and quality

4. Conduct research: Gender-specific

indicators causes 5. Analyzing options: indicators to measure

processes & opportunities

7. Communicating policy: Policy-briefs

and specialized gender publications

8. Assess quality/ evaluate impacts:

Gender impact assessment indicators

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Promoting GS in Policymaking Inter-agency collaboration on project:

“Toward more gender-responsive MDG monitoring and reporting in the Arab region”

Rationale : To forge a common understanding among stakeholders in Arab countries on:

Ways to engender quantitative and qualitative monitoring and reporting on the MDGs

Identification of priority regional gender issues

Development of gender-sensitive measurements

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• Improved capacity of countries to undertake more gender-responsive MDG monitoring and reporting, particularly in

the preparation and use of gender-sensitive indicators and sex-disaggregated statistics

Objective

• Statisticians NSS - NGOs• Media - Policy makers

• Universities & research centers• Private sector

Beneficiaries

• UN Agencies responsible for the production of the related indicators in the

MDG framework Partners

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Concepts

Methodology

Comparable & quality statistics

Process Towards More-Gender Responsive MDGRs

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Towards More-Gender Responsive MDG Monitoring& Reporting in the Arab Region

Gender in the MDGs: Information Guide for Arab MDG Reports

Arab Gender Issues & Indicators Handbook

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Phase I : Information Guide1. Gender and the development agenda

2. Current practices in engendering the monitoring and reporting of millennium development goals

3. Gender in Arab millennium development goal reports

4. Data sources for compiling gender statistics

5. “G Is In” framework: proposed gender issues and gender-sensitive indicators for Arab countries

6. Towards more gender-responsive monitoring and reporting

7. Concluding remarks

12http://www.escwa.un.org/divisions/scu/GenderMDG/index.asp

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Phase II : FrameworkGoals, Issues & Indicators

“G IS IN” A three-dimensional framework for Arab countries, links:

Goals in the Millennium Declaration 12 rePrioritized gender ISsues in the Arab region of the

Beijing Platform for Action A minimum core set of gender-sensitive INdicators and sex-

disaggregated data

A common set of quantitative and qualitative indicators for: Engendered MDG MDG+ for Arab countries Beijing Platform for Action strategic objective

A measurement tool to gauge progress achieved at the national and regional level towards achieving developmental goals

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Phase III : Handbook Forge a common methodological knowledge

among stakeholders to produce comparable and quality statistics for evidence-based policymaking and planning

Provide guidance on the framework’s indicators:- Definition- Goal and target addressed and the quantifiable target for

each indicator- Gender inequality issue addressed and policy link- Method of computation- Data source and collection - Disaggregation issues- Periodicity of measurement- Additional indicators- Data shortcomings

Aligning with other regional initiatives Virtual library – repository of knowledge for

information sharing Link to networks of gender statisticians Database on gender statistics and DevInfo Training manual and e-learning Gender Statistical Literacy Capacity building workshops/ technical services:

TUS mainstreaming gender in labor statistics, NSDS, etc engendering population census Assessment of data availability and quality 16

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Thank you…