Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Monitoring progress towards gender equitable development Francesca Perucci Statistics Division, DESA United Nations, New York

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January Can we monitor development in all its gender-based dimensions? 2.An attempt to go beyond MDG Indicators 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 the first World Womens Conference in 1975The call for improved availability of data on women and men started with the first World Womens Conference in the Worlds Women Conference in Nairobi in 1985The first comprehensive compilation of data on women and men presented at the Worlds Women Conference in Nairobi in : Beijing Platform for Action1995: Beijing Platform for Action, a detailed plan for the production and use of gender statistics is adopted. How far have we gone?

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Almost 34 years from the first call for statistics on women and menAlmost 34 years from the first call for statistics on women and men, can we fulfill the current monitoring requirements? Can we monitor progress towards gender equality and womens empowerment? Can we monitor gender equitable progress towards all development goals, including the MDGs? How far have we gone?

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 human, socialenvironmental Development is not exclusively economic, but also embraces human, social and environmental dimensions How do we monitor progress towards the development goals? Millennium Declaration in 2000 Eight universally-agreed development Goals (MDGs) Embodies the goals of the last decades measurable and time-bound targets Specific measurable and time-bound targets

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 There is universal recognition that gender equality and womens empowerment are necessary conditions to achieve development –Women contribute to household income –Gender equality and womens empowerment are necessary to achieve universal primary education, lower under-five mortality, improved maternal health, and lower likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS –Womens greater control over household resource allocation improve childrens health, nutrition and education Gender equality as a necessary condition for development

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Need to monitor gender equality and womens empowerment Governments need to honor existing international commitments to mainstream gender and promote the empowerment of women into all development policies Data should be available to support this effort and to identify the progress that is being achieved

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Monitoring Goal 3 - Promote gender equality and empower women Indicators: Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education Share of women in wage employment in the non- agricultural sector Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Are MDG Indicators adequate to monitor gender based aspects of development? Only some of the dimensions of gender equality and empowerment are captured by the three indicators in Goal 3 The three indicators only partially address the dimensions they are expected to monitor. There are problems of data availability and data quality. Although other aspects of womens lives are covered by some of the other goals, few of the indicators under those goals are appropriate or sufficient to fully assess the situation of women and men.

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Goal 3: Modification of existing indicators Share of women in wage employment in the non- agricultural sector Share of women in employment by type: 1. Share of women in total employment 2. Share of women in agricultural employment 3. Share of women in non-agricultural wage employment (current MDG indicator) 3.1 Informal wage employment 4. Share of women in non-agricultural self- employment 4.1 informal self-employment

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Goal 3: Proposed new indicators Domestic violence Proportion of women who ever had a partner, years old, who have ever experienced physical violence by an intimate partner Hours per day (or year) women and men spend fetching water and collecting fuel Infrastructure and womens contribution to the economy Control of resources Land ownership by sex Housing title, disaggregated by male, female or jointly held Percentage of women elected to local government bodies Participation in local governments

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 For most of the indicators proposed the current data availability was still insufficient to produce the indicator for all regions and for two points in time (for trend analysis). The focus should be on promoting adequate data collection programmes. Monitoring Goal 3: Recommendations by the sub-group

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Adolescent birth rate Unmet need for family planning Monitoring Goal 3: Recommendations by the sub-group Womens empowerment in the are of health and their ability to control their reproductive life New indicators included in the new MDG framework, under Goal 5, presented to the General Assembly, September 2007

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 And even on existing indicators, there are problems with data availability MDG-indicator 11: Share of women in wage employment in the non- agricultural sector: % countries with at least 2 data points since % 24% 67% 74% 83% 73% 73% 20% Source:

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 still do not allow us to monitor the basic aspects of development related to genderinform policiesAvailable data are insufficient: The data available from official national and international sources still do not allow us to monitor the basic aspects of development related to gender and to inform policies with the necessary statistics. have failed to fully integrate a gender perspective provide policy makers with the kind of data required for gender-sensitive policy formulationand monitoringExisting indicators are not adequate to reflect gender based dimensions: Statistics and indicators currently produced and used for monitoring indicate that statistical systems (nationally and internationally) have failed to fully integrate a gender perspective in all areas of statistical production and to provide policy makers with the kind of data required for gender-sensitive policy formulation and monitoring Can we monitor development in all its gender-based dimensions?

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January Can we monitor development in all its gender-based dimensions? 2.An attempt to go beyond MDG Indicators 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Most of the burden of collecting drinking water falls on women and girls

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Reducing gender inequality is key to addressing womens vulnerability to HIV/AIDS Percentage of adults living with HIV who are women, 2007 and Women who used a condom at last high-risk sex, 2005/2006 (Percentage) CIS, Asia Latin America & the Caribbean Southern Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Adults (15+) living with HIV who are women Women who used condom at last high-risk sex

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Health care must be made available to all pregnant women and at all deliveries

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Women's significant contribution to ensuring food security often goes unpaid

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January Can we monitor development in all its gender-based dimensions? 2.An attempt to go beyond MDG Indicators 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 The political importance of the Millennium Declaration and of monitoring progress towards the MDGs have contributed to: –Bringing about an increased recognition of the importance of statistics for policy-making and monitoring –Highlighting the overall lack of adequate statistical capacity in many developing countries –A higher recognition and awareness of the urgent need to build stronger national statistical systems –The development of new capacity building initiatives The MDG effect

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 The political importance of the MDGs and the need to monitor progress have shaped the development of indicators and related statistical capacity-building programmes over the past few years. Monitoring and the need for statistics

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 The MDGs and the new monitoring requirements have not only created the need but also provided an opportunity to improve data and gender- based data. The opportunity should not be lost to ensure that the need for improved gender data is addressed Statisticians concerned with the development of gender statistics need to become fully involved in the implementation of these initiatives and programmes. But are we seizing the opportunity?

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 The urgency for development partners to address the lack of data has become more evident Important new initiatives for statistical capacity-building: –Marrakech Action Plan for the improvement of development statistics –Steering and Working Groups on MDG Africa: Thematic Group on Statistical Systems –IAEG on MDG Indicators: initiatives in statistical capacity building –2006 ECOSOC resolution and recommendations by the UN Statistical Commission The way forward: A new environment

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 Ensure that capacity building programmes and initiatives to improve the financing for the development of statistics also include a gender perspective Develop standards and guidelines through the formal intergovernmental process (UN SC) to ensure full involvement and commitment by national statistical systems Two important steps

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra, January 2009 THANK YOU Visit mdgs.un.org