Missing links between gender, economy and statistics Ewa Ruminska-Zimny, UNECE Conference of European Statisticians Group of Experts on Gender Statistics Geneva, September 2006

Gender equality as an economic issue  Feminist economists: taking the lead and providing a framework  Catching-up by “hard core” economists: women’s employment as an engine of GDP growth - The Economist April 2006)  Private sector interest - Davos Forum (links GDP and gender equality)  Policy issues: male breadwinner bias; double earner/ double burden family model

Why?  Pressure of globalization for diversity, flexibility and best use of resources  Ageing and lower fertility: worries of A. Merkel and V. Putin  More competitive while maintaining social coherence (Lisbon Strategy)  Loss of women’s economic potential in EE and especially CIS (lower participation, moving to lower paid jobs)

How to engender economic policy- making?  More awareness of economic ministries that gender equality pays off  Arguments/evidence: key role of data and gender analysis  Concepts and tools in various policy areas (e.g. budgetary and SME policies)  Political support and mechanisms to include gender into economic strategies  Nordic countries the most competitive and most equal: is there a link?

Measuring women’s contribution to competitiveness and growth  Unpaid work - a key issue  Paid work: contribution to quantitative (e.g. participation rates) and qualitative growth factors (e.g. education and skills, incl. life-long learning)  But also measuring optimal use of women’s economic potential (management jobs; entrepreneurship but also value of diversity, flexibility etc)

Gaps and challenges for data producers  Engendering macro-economic data (public expenditure and budgetary data)  Social security statistics (sex disaggregated data of beneficiaries of parental leaves, costs of child care services, care services for elderly, pensions)  Improvement in employment data (wages, informal sector, self-employment, part-time)  Economic decision making (public administration, banks and financial sector, top/senior management companies, economic think-tanks/research)

Specific challenges for Central Asia, south Caucasus & other CIS  Poverty and women’s incomes (wages from formal, informal, and self-employment plus social transfers)  Situation of rural women and regional differences  Gender analysis of public expenditure and budgets  ICT and new opportunities - is there a gender bias?

ECE as a platform for raising awareness of economic policy makers  Beijing +10 review and recommendations  New sub-programme on promoting countries’ competitiveness and innovation  SPECA and WG on Gender and Economy for Central Asia and South Caucasus  New DA project on region specific MDGs indicators

DA Project on region-specific MDG indicators  Project objective: strengthening social inclusion, gender equality and health promotion  Expected output: identification of additional MDG targets and indicators adopted by for policy-makers; MDG knowledge-hub  Focus: economic aspects of gender equality in Central Asia and South Caucasus

Conclusions  Data which “fit” the demand of policy makers is a key to have an impact on economic policy  Knowledge of gender aspects of economic policies is essential (part of training programs)  As well as knowledge of priority issues and agenda at regional/national levels is necessary for data improvement  ECE is a “natural” platform to strengthen the links between gender, economy and statistics at regional and sub-regional levels

Thank you! Ewa Ruminska-Zimny UNECE Gender Focal Point Office of the Executive Secretary Web: