1. Educational Statistics Presentation on issues and data requirements
Regional Training Workshop to Improve Use of Existing Data for Monitoring Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa September 2011, Kampala, Uganda
Integrating a gender perspective into
Educational Statistics
Presentation on issues and data requirements
Opoku Manu Asare
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2. What Presentation Seeks to Do
Consider the requirements for compiling indicators for SDGs monitoring
Establish the context in which these indicators are to be developed
Consider how to make the monitoring effective and relevant for gender equality in all dimensions
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3. Outline Overview – Purpose of presentation Educational participation
Schooling environment
Outcome of formal education
Non-formal adult education and training
Scientific and technological knowledge
Issues of gender and data Integration
Conceptual and measurement issues
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5. Overview Gender statistics is: Developing gender statistics
A field of statistics
Like any other
Cuts across all traditional statistical fields
Relevant to the entire statistical system
Developing gender statistics
Requires that the statistical processes be applied diligently to this field
Calls for commitment to introduce new approaches to be client-responsive
15 December 2008

6. Where are we… SDGs were adopted by all UN Member States
All countries expected to monitor progress
One goal – Goal 5 is devoted to Gender Equality
Indicators have been defined for monitoring
All statistics should be disaggregated not just by sex, but also by age, socioeconomic and geographic characteristics
SO AS TO – know who is being LEFT BEHIND
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7. Before SDGs there was…
Beijing Platform for Action (1995)… calls on national, regional and international statistical institutions to:
Ensure that statistics related to individuals are collected, compiled, analysed and presented by sex and age, and reflect problems, issues and questions related to women and men in society
15 December 2008

8. Four major phases in statistics production process
Defining data requirements
Statistics required from various fields
Defining issues
Relevant statistics/indicators
Dissemination
Problems and questions on gender issues in society
AND
Required improvements in the situation of women and men
Assembling data
Statistics to be analysed
Available statistics
Data gaps
Analysis
Determine data sources
Presentation
Review quality
Other sources
Dissemination
Review concepts, methods, classifications, etc.
Collect new data

9. Gender issues on Education
In many Sub-Sahara African countries, girls and boys do not have equal access to basic education
Girls are less likely than Boys to enter primary schooling
Nevertheless, once enrolled, girls tend to progress as well as or even better than boys
Primary education completion rates remain higher for boys than for girls in most regions.
The extent to which girls are disproportionately excluded from education
MORE at the secondary than at the primary level; and
INCREASES further from the lower to the upper secondary levels
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10. Educational participation Gender issues – Some influences
Poverty, longer hours of work, distance to school, schooling environment and factors related to puberty, early marriage or pregnancy tend to disproportionately affect girls’ school participation and completion relative to boys’ at secondary level.
Poverty -- Children from poor households are more likely than their peers to be out of school;
There may be locations where boys are more affected
Long hours of work affect children’s school attendance, especially girls’.
Both girls and boys may be engaged in work activities, but boys are more likely to be employed, while girls are more likely to do unpaid housework (Huebler, 2008; United Nations, 2010).
The number of female students in tertiary institutions has been growing and, in many regions
Female enrolment rates in tertiary education have surpassed male enrolment rates (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2010a).
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11. Data required
Based on school administrative records, several types of data can be used
New entrants in primary education by sex and age;
Pupils enrolled in primary education by sex, age and grade;
New entrants in secondary education by sex and age;
Students enrolled in secondary education by sex, age, grade
Repeaters by sex, grade and level of education
Students enrolled in tertiary education by sex, ISCED level and field of study
Tertiary education graduates by sex and field of study.
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12. Data required
While the gender gap at the national level may be modest, considerable gender inequalities in education may exist among subgroups
Urban/rural areas and other geographical areas
Ethnicity
Wealth status of the child’s household and parent’s education.
International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level and type of programme
Qualitative information on reasons for not attending school or dropping out by sex and level of education
Reasons for not attending school or dropping out
Household-related factors such as insufficient economic resources to cover the expenses
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13. Data Sources
School administrative records are the source for school enrolment, new entrants, repeaters and graduates.
To calculate various indicators of educational participation, population data disaggregated by sex and age are needed from other sources, such as
Population censuses
Population registers
Household based sample surveys
Population projections
School attendance by sex, age and level of education are from household surveys and population censuses
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14. Household Sample surveys (Examples)
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS),
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire
(CWIQ) and the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS).
Child Labour Surveys
Can collect data on the involvement of girls and boys in and out of school
Qualitative information on reasons for not attending school or dropping out by sex and level of education:
Reasons for not attending school or dropping out may refer to:
Household-related factors such as insufficient economic resources to cover the expenses
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15. Schooling environment Gender issues
Where single sex schooling is the norm, local schools may be available for boys only or girls only.
Long distances to school and safety and privacy concerns may keep girls out of school
Teaching and learning environment could create gender problems and gender stereotypes (UNESCO, 2003; UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2010a) such as
Inadequate sanitation facilities for girls
Lack of separate toilets for girls and boys
Potential threats from physical and sexual abuse by other students or teachers also keep girls out of school.
Underrepresentation of women among teaching staff
Textbooks and other teaching materials often contain gender-based biases
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16. Data required
Data needed to analyse schooling environment from a gender perspective are:
Teachers by sex and instruction level;
Schools by availability of separate toilets for girls and boys;
Children not attending school for reasons, such as:
Lack of transportation
Incidence of abuse by other students or teachers
Lack of separate toilets for girls and boys
Qualitative information on gender biases in curricular content can be used as background information when analysing statistics related to educational participation and schooling environment
Additional breakdowns that would account for disparities in infrastructure, such as urban/rural areas or geographical areas, should be considered
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17. Outcome of formal education Gender issues
Traditionally, women have had fewer educational opportunities than men, owing to:
Differences in gender roles and expectations
Educational policies that did not take into account gender specific barriers in access to schooling.
Great gender disparities in adult literacy continue to exist
But disparities in youth literacy have narrowed (United Nations, 2010; UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011).
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18. Outcome of formal education Gender issues
These differences are reflected in current gender disparities in literacy and educational attainment.
Gender disparities in educational attainment persist in the less developed regions, where substantial proportions of the population are concentrated at the primary level of educational attainment women’s lack of education has a significant impact on their family wellbeing.
Women’s education is an important factor in marriage and fertility patterns.
A low level of education for women is often associated with early marriage and high fertility. It may also be associated with poor health status for both women and members of their household, particularly their children.
Immunization, child nutrition and child survival may be significantly improved when the mother has a higher level of education.
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19. Data required
Two types of data are usually needed to analyse outcome of formal education. They are:
Literacy by sex and age;
It is also important that literacy is disaggregated by other variables, such as school attainment or type of learning programme, in order to identify strategies for improving literacy.
Educational attainment (highest level of education attained) by sex.
Variations in educational characteristics among the corresponding population subgroups are important input in defining specific educational.
Additional breakdowns required are urban/rural areas, geographical areas and ethnicity.
Policy measures at a more decentralized level.
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20. Non-formal adult education and training Gender issues
Women tend to participate less than men in training in large companies where men dominate the managerial positions associated with more frequent opportunities for training.
In the less developed regions, women use agricultural extension services less often than men
Women’s role in the agricultural economy has been overlooked because their traditional products are consumed within the household or sold locally more often than men’s
Women’s heavy workload limits their time available to participate in extension services meetings
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21. Data requirement
Participation in non-formal education and training by sex
Participation in continuing vocational training in enterprises by sex
Use of agricultural extension services by sex.
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22. Scientific and technological knowledge Gender issues
Women tend to be underrepresented among researchers . Lower proportions of women in research are partially explained by the fact that men outnumber women in science-related fields of study at the level of doctorates, PhDs or other advanced research degrees
the fields of engineering and computing are most clearly dominated by men. In the life sciences, including medicine, on the other hand, women are more likely to be predominant.
Women are less likely than men to be employed in the private sector of research and
experimental development than in the public sector
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23. Scientific and technological knowledge Gender issues
Fewer women than men are found on scientific boards and in other decision making positions.
In the less developed regions, gender differences in computer and Internet use are difficult to assess owning to a lack of data
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24. Data requirement
Data on scientific and technological knowledge usually refer to:
Researchers by sex and field of science;
Members of scientific boards by sex;
Internet users by sex and age;
Persons using mobile/cellular telephones by sex and age.
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25. Sources of data Population census School census
School administrative records
Household surveys (DHS, MICS, CWIQ, LSMS)
Child labour surveys
Qualitative studies on curricular
Enterprise surveys
Multipurpose household surveys
Annual reports of extension offices
Household or individual ICT surveys
NOTE: Sources are not equally applicable or relevant in all cases.
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26. Issues of gender and data Integration
Senior level commitment and leadership towards gender mainstreaming
Training and awareness raising on gender inequalities in health and the benefits of gender mainstreaming
Collection and Collation of gender and sex-disaggregated data
Consultations with women’s and men’s organisations, service users, health care unions and staff
Gender proofing: assessing gender relevance and carrying out gender impact assessments
Planning and Delivery of Services
Demonstration Projects in specific services
Monitoring and Evaluation
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27. Key Steps to Integrating Gender Perspectives into Educational Statistics
Laws and regulations
Policies, programmes and projects
Develop curricula to deal with gender issues and statistics
Designing energy research and studies
Develop and implement strategies
Engage stakeholder dialogue, consultation
Adopt protocols and intentions convections

28. Conceptual and measurement issues
Children who are enrolled but not attending school are included in enrolment statistics
Statistics collected from administrative records enrolled students or repeaters public school system (United Nations, 2006)
Not all aspects of schooling environment with gender-specific impact can be easily measured.
Literacy statistics based on self-reporting or proxy reporting may overestimate literacy
rates for children, women or other persons considered dependants (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2008).
Non-formal adult education and training has not been part of the regular
programme of data collection in national statistical offices and ministries of education.
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29. Conceptual and measurement issues
The share of women among researchers may be overestimated when only public universities and public research facilities are covered by statistics, as the private sector of research is more male-dominated than the public sector.
Some gender-specific aspects of ICT use are not yet captured through statistics
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30. Exercise List two gender issues in education in your community
List two gender issues in education at your workplace
List two gender issues in education at national level
How are you mainstreaming education issues into your decision making at home
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31. End
THANK YOU
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