“Gender statistics and indicators integrate a gender perspective in the collection, analysis and presentation of statistical data”.
Gender indicators and statistics play a key role in measuring gender gaps on the basis of agreed indicators that are relevant to the lives of women and men. Gender statistics and indicators are an integral part of gender mainstreaming throughout the
entire policy cycle. Firstly, they inform the policy making process and ensure that interventions respond to the different needs and priorities of women and men.
Secondly, they measure changes in the relations between women and men over time in a particular policy area, a specific programme or activity, or changes in the status or situation of women and men. Thirdly, they are an essential part of the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of policies, programmes and projects.
Overview of Gender Statistics
Gender statistics aim to ‘reflect differences and inequalities in the situation of women and men in all areas of life’. In providing evidence of gender equalities and gender gaps in key areas they help to make gender inequalities visible, which can in turn inform policy making to address identified gender gaps. They help to identify data that is relevant to women’s and men’s lives and to key areas of policy making.
The UN Statistical Divisions’ manual on gender statistics defines gender statistics as encompassing the following characteristics:
- Data is collected and presented disaggregated by sex as a primary and overall classification;
- Data reflect gender issues;
- Data are based on concepts and definitions that adequately reflect the diversity of women and men and capture all aspects of their lives; and
- Data collection methods take into account stereotypes and social and cultural factors that may induce gender biases’.
It is important to distinguish between sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics. Sex-disaggregated data refers to collecting data and breaking it down separately for women and men. Gender statistics go further as they take into account wider gender inequalities and gender bias in data collection methods and tools. In addition, gender statistics have the potential to reflect different groups of women and men, taking into consideration that ‘gender intersects with age, education, family composition and parenthood, country of birth and disability’. This means that gender statistics can reflect a deeper understanding of women’s situations and needs, and thereby supports the analysis of intersecting inequalities.
Overview of Gender Indicators
Gender indicators (sometimes referred to as statistical indicators) are the measure(s) upon which data is collected. Indicators can be used to show relative positions or positive or negative change. They are also important to show progress over time, for example, changes in women’s participation in the labour market. Gender indicators allow for meaningful comparison over at least one data dimension, such as country or time. More generally, a statistical indicator is defined as a ‘[d]ata element that represents statistical data for a specified time, place, and other characteristics, and is corrected for at least one dimension (usually size) to allow for meaningful comparisons.
Gender indicators can be used to measure progress and allow for comparisons in gender equality progress over time, across different geographical areas, countries and between different groups of women and/or men (e.g. younger and older women and men; unemployed and employed women and men) as well as in organisations, institutions and systems. They can measure the relative situation of women and men in areas such as their access to assets, their empowerment and the attitudes of women and men toward gender equality. Gender indicators can also be used to measure the extent to which society is free from gender-based violence and/ or negative gender stereotypes.
Approaches to Data Collection
There are two main methods of data collection relevant for gender statistics and
indicators:
Quantitative methods of data collection produce quantifiable results. In other words, they focus on issues that can be counted, such as percentages of women and men in the labour market, male and female wage rates or school enrolment rates for girls and boys. Quantitative data can show the magnitude of changes in gender equality over time — for example, the percentage of women married before the age of 15 or the gender pay gap over time.
Qualitative methods capture people’s experiences, opinions, attitudes and feelings — for example, women’s experiences of the constraints or advantages of working in the informal sector, or men’s and women’s views on the causes and consequences of under representation of women in senior positions in the economy or in politics. Often participatory methods such as focus group discussions and social mapping tools are used to collect data for qualitative indicators. Qualitative data can also be collected through in-depth surveys measuring perceptions and opinions.
Why are Gender Indicators Important?
Gender statistics and indicators have the potential to contribute to the narrowing of gender inequalities by providing an evidence base that makes gender inequalities visible. Such indicators ensure that women’s and men’s situations and contributions to society are measured correctly and valued equally. They also allow gender aspects to be made visible in areas where they were previously considered irrelevant.
Gender statistics and indicators are important because they:
- Give evidence on progress towards gender equality, contribute to closing persistent gender gaps and to correcting gender bias.
- Show that gender inequalities are a concern for the whole of society and that they have to be taken seriously by all actors in the public arena;
- Provide evidence for the development of policies, programmes, projects and legislation that respond to the needs of women and men as beneficiaries of an intervention in a specific context;
- Sustain learning processes for policymakers and stakeholders by making gender inequalities visible;
- Contribute to increasing citizens’ and decisionmakers’ awareness on gender
- Inequalities (see gender awareness; link here) that may encourage them to take action;
- Provide information on the potential impacts of policies and interventions on women and men;
- Contribute to preventing the adoption of policies that perpetuate gender bias and gender inequalities, and/or that avoid the risk of not fulfilling the objectives of the respective intervention;
- Provide evidence for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of an intervention (e.g. policy, programme, project, legislation) and for assessing its relevance, efficiency and effectiveness for both women and men.