Making Gender Statistics Meaningful on the Ground

UNITED NATIONS, New York — The right data can advance understanding of gender dynamics, drive change and clarify results.

But the collection of gender statistics has only been going on since 1980, and though much has been accomplished in thirty years, different countries and regions vary widely in their capacity to collect, analyse and use data. Those were some of the themes that emerged from a panel yesterday organized by UNFPA , the United Nations Statistics Division and UN Women as a join event to the Commission on the Status of Women and the 42nd Session of the Statistical Commission.

“Gender statistics is not just about monitoring inequalities, it’s about understanding the basics of discrimination and what is happening with gender within society,” said Werner Haug, director of UNFPA’s technical division.

Mr. Haug and several other panelists pointed to the example of violence against women. “Just 20 years ago it was not on anyone’s radar," said Jeff Edmeades of the International Centre for Research on Women. “But now it is, and this is in great part due to the use of statistics.”

Progress and challenges at the country and regional levels

Collecting statistics disaggregated by gender is not just about furthering knowledge. It is also a requirement of many national and international initiatives.

But the difficulty in collecting, analyzing, disseminating and using data was illustrated by presentations from the Philippines, Uganda and the Pacific Island community.

While collection of gender statistics is quite well advanced in the Philippines, the data is not necessarily being fully utilized by policymakers, according to Romulo A. Virola of the National Statistical Coordination Board. “We feel we are generating a lot of statistics, but we don’t feel policymakers are using them,” he said.

Uganda, on the other hand, is in the very early stages of developing baseline statistics and faces a lack of understanding and capacity, according to John B. Male-Mukasa of Uganda’s Bureau of Statistics. A further complication is the fact that household survey results may be skewed because most households are headed by men, and even getting women to answer questions may require their permission. Mr. Male-Mukasa also pointed to the difficulty in finding the right variables to measure: “How do we measure awareness? How do we measure equity? Or empowerment?” he asked.

Treva Braun, from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, presented a framework that had been developed at the regional level to build capacity among its 22 states and territories to identify, collect, compare and disseminate data representing 180 indicators across multiple sectors. “A few data points do not give a clear picture of the complex relationships between men and women,” she pointed out. The online platform they have developed uses innovative ways to visualize complex data sets.