Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 Engendering development statistics: a new opportunity Francesca Perucci Statistics Division, DESA United Nations, New York

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December A new approach to development 2.Can we monitor progress in gender equality? 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December A new approach to development 2.Can we monitor progress in gender equality? 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 human, socialenvironmental Development is not exclusively economic, but also embraces human, social and environmental dimensions The Millennium Declaration: a new approach to development Millennium Declaration in 2000 Eight universally-agreed “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) results A shift in emphasis from inputs to results measurable and time-bound targets Specific measurable and time-bound targets for each Goal

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 The establishment of the MDGs was followed by the identification of an agreed set of targets and indicators to measure achievements The Secretary-General mandated the United Nations Inter-agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on MDG Indicators with the production of data and reporting The IAEG established thematic sub-groups Monitoring progress towards the MDGs

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 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, Rome, December 2007 The Millennium Declaration and the establishment of the MDGs have also contributed to: –Bring about an increased recognition of the importance of statistics for policy-making and monitoring –Highlight 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 Monitoring and the need for statistics

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December A new approach to development 2.Can we monitor progress in gender equality? 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 There is universal recognition that gender equality and women’s empowerment are necessary conditions to achieve development –Women contribute to household income –There is compelling evidence that gender equality and women’s empowerment are necessary to achieve universal primary education, lower under-five mortality, improved maternal health, and lower likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS –Women’s greater control over household resource allocation improve children’s health, nutrition and education Gender equality as a necessary condition for development

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 Why the need to monitor gender equality and women’s 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, Rome, December 2007 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, Rome, December 2007 Monitoring Goal 3: Why is it difficult? Only some of the dimensions of gender equality and empowerment are captured by the three indicators All 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 women’s 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, Rome, December 2007 MDG-indicator 11: Share of women in wage employment in the non- agricultural sector Percentage of countries with at least 2 data points since 1990 (country data and estimated data) 67% 24% 67% 74% 83% 73% 73% 20% Source: accessed 3 December 2007www.mdgs.un.org

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 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, Rome, December 2007 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 women’s 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, Rome, December 2007 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, Rome, December 2007 Adolescent birth rate Unmet need for family planning Monitoring Goal 3: Recommendations by the sub-group Women’s 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, Rome, December A new approach to development 2.Can we monitor progress in gender equality? 3.Conclusions and way forward Outline

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 the first World Women’s Conference in 1975The call for improved availability of data on women and men started with the first World Women’s Conference in At the end of the women’s decade, in Nairobi, the first comprehensive compilation of gender statistics was presented. More than thirty years onMore than thirty years on, 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. How far have we gone?

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 have failed to fully integrate a gender perspective provide policy makers with the kind of data required for gender-sensitive policy formulationThe current availability of statistics from national official sources indicate that statistical systems 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 How far have we gone?

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 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 System –IAEG’s initiatives in statistical capacity building –CCSA’s new efforts to improve coordination and delivery of capacity building programmes –2006 ECOSOC resolution The way forward: A new environment

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 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. The way forward: Seizing the opportunity

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 Many developing countries are working to build national statistical systems: –National Strategies for the Development of Statistics –2010 World Population Census Programme The way forward: Seizing the opportunity

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 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 The way forward: A few important steps

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 Ensure that the new initiatives include a gender perspective: Population census as a source of gender statistics Household surveys as a source for data on: access to resources health indicators (maternal mortality) poverty indicators Vital statistics as a source for data by sex The way forward: A few important steps

Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Rome, December 2007 THANK YOU Visit mdgs.un.org