Transcript Slide 1

A Case for Gender Statistics in
National Statistical System
Mr. Pali Lehohla
Statistics South Africa
26 January 2009
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What the intervention covers
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Gender and official statistics legislation
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UN fundamental Principles for official statistics and Gender
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Gaps in systems regarding Gender
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What needs to be done and what should be done
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Gender and Official Statistics
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Mandated by statistical legislation e.g. Statistics Act of South
Africa, No. 6 of 1999 calls for the collection of “genderdisaggregated data”.
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Statistical legislation is otherwise silent on gender statistics with
respect to :
a) Defining specifically WHO provides these statistics Defining
WHAT activities (data collection, publishing statistics,
providing statistical advice to support policy work) must be
taken into account to ensure good gender statistics
b) Defining the outputs (published statistics on labour markets,
crime, health …)
c) Defining the institutional collaborations required for the
production of good gender statistics
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UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
• Equally silent on gender statistics but FOUR Principles
do allude to the relevance of building a case for
production of gender statistics:
Principle 1: Relevance, impartiality and equal
access
Principle 7: Legislation
Principle 8: National coordination
Principle 9: International standards
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Gender, Official Statistics and National Statistical Systems
(NSS)
• Whichever approach to official statistics is taken, there are
additional questions about the scope of what needs to be
done to ensure a national statistical system in favour of
gender statistics:
• What people, services or outputs should be included?
• What is the role of official statistics in promoting the
advancement of women?
• How can the national statistical system strengthen and
coordinate gender statistics?
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Gender, Official Statistics and the NSS (cont.)
• Acknowledgement is made of significant contribution of women to
sustainable development
• Acknowledgement is made of legislative framework permitting
full participation of men and women in all aspects of social and
economic development, equitable access to productive resources
• Acknowledgement is made of existing frameworks that allow
policy-makers and planners to gain a clearer understanding of the
dynamics operating at the household and community levels. This
would enable them to formulate more gender-responsive national
policies
• Acknowledgement is also made of the need to fill data gaps.
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Gender, Official Statistics and the NSS (cont.)
1. WHERE ARE THE GAPS?
(a) In an “era of communication” growing information on the productive
roles of men and women is often not sufficiently substantiated by
reliable statistics.
• Notorious deficiencies and shortcomings of gender data
include the absence of reliable sources, a lack of precision, and
weakness of analysis.
•Quite often, these statistics are too limited in scope and
coverage, and do not allow for generalization.
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1. Where are the Gaps? (cont.)
(b) Gender-related information also suffers from a weak dissemination
system. When data are available, they are usually diffused only
partially and selectively without a real awareness of the target
audience
(c) The generation and use of information on gender issues compete
with many other priorities
(d) Generally speaking, developing countries suffer from the failure of
statistical systems to respond to data needs. As a result, they do not
have the social, demographic, economic data needed for accurate
development planning.
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2. What are the Gender Data Gaps within the
NSS?
• Gender disaggregated data is needed on:
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Political participation
Education
Health
Crime
Economic activities, contribution, access to productive resources
Energy
etc
In summary voice, rights and resources
“No data, no visibility - no visibility, no priority”
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2. Weaknesses of Gender-Specific Statistics
•
Lack of adequate concepts, definitions and methods within the
national statistical system to adequately reflect the different role and
contributions of women and men in society;
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Uncoordinated efforts within the NSS in the collection, analysis and
dissemination of gender statistics creates certain problems:
– Cultural and religious factors, stereotypes and local customs that contribute to
making women less visible and prevent both enumerators and respondents
from providing correct and reliable information as a result of inconsistent
efforts at building national capacity in gender statistics;
– Under-utilization of existing gender statistics as a feature of inconsistent
dissemination of statistics;
– Lack of communication between producers and users of data as a feature of
uncoordinated NSS strategy;
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What Needs to be done for an Effective NSS?
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Gender statistics are frequently not produced because of a lack of interest and
demand from potential users and an ill-prepared NSS
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In order to formulate statistical needs accurately, a strategic collective is required by
policy-makers, public and private development practitioners, NGOs and other
involved users of gender-related data need to consider the following points:
– Gender awareness and a minimum of gender analysis expertise are essential
for their activities;
– The institutionalization of a gender approach can facilitate collaboration
between users and producers of data;
– Methodological guidance is needed both in the collection phase and during the
tabulation and analysis stages;
– Resources (such as time and funds) need to be made available since gender
statistics are rarely included in existing development plans and budgets.
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What needs to be done? (cont.)
•This dialogue is particularly important in the determination of the
categories of data to be collected and the selection of indicators.
•Relevant data collection will also depend on the ability of statisticians
to extend their horizons to social and gender issues.
•Users (such as gender experts and decision-makers) to upgrade their
skills in order to understand, interpret and use statistical data correctly.
•Collaboration can be furthered through workshops, technical
committees, expert consultations and the integration of statisticians in
policy-making processes.
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THANK YOU
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