PROMOTING GENDER STATISTICS IN EVIDENCE-BASED POLICYMAKING 2 nd Global Forum on Gender Statistics, January 2009 Neda Jafar Statistics Division UN ESCWA

2 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

3 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

4 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 5

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 6. Recommending/ decision: Gender-budgeting indicators; consequences indicators & gender-aware budget statements 7. Communicating policy: Policy-briefs and specialized gender publications 8. Assess quality/ evaluate impacts: Gender impact assessment indicators MAINSTRMING PlanningOperationReporting

7 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

8 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

9 Concepts Methodology Comparable & quality statistics Process Towards More-Gender Responsive MDGRs

10 Towards More-Gender Responsive MDG Monitoring & Reporting in the Arab Region Gender in the MDGs: Information Guide for Arab MDG Reports Framework: G Is In Framework Arab Gender Issues & Indicators Handbook

11 Phase I : Information Guide 1. 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

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13 Phase II : Framework Goals, 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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15 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

17 Thank you…