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A Case for Gender Statistics in National Statistical System

Mr. Pali Lehohla Statistics South Africa

26 January 2009

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What the intervention covers• Gender and official statistics legislation

• UN fundamental Principles for official statistics and Gender

• Gaps in systems regarding Gender

• What needs to be done and what should be done

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Gender and Official Statistics• Mandated by statistical legislation e.g. Statistics Act of South

Africa, No. 6 of 1999 calls for the collection of “gender-disaggregated data”.

• Statistical legislation is otherwise silent on gender statistics with respect to :

a) Defining specifically WHO provides these statistics Defining WHAT activities (data collection, publishing statistics, providing statistical advice to support policy work) must be taken into account to ensure good gender statistics

b) Defining the outputs (published statistics on labour markets, crime, health …)

c) Defining the institutional collaborations required for the

production of good gender statistics

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UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics

• Equally silent on gender statistics but FOUR Principles do allude to the relevance of building a case for production of gender statistics:

Principle 1: Relevance, impartiality and equal access

Principle 7: LegislationPrinciple 8: National coordinationPrinciple 9: International standards

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Gender, Official Statistics and National Statistical Systems (NSS)

• Whichever approach to official statistics is taken, there are additional questions about the scope of what needs to be done to ensure a national statistical system in favour of gender statistics:

• What people, services or outputs should be included?

• What is the role of official statistics in promoting the advancement of women?

• How can the national statistical system strengthen and coordinate gender statistics?

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Gender, Official Statistics and the NSS (cont.)

• Acknowledgement is made of significant contribution of women to sustainable development

• Acknowledgement is made of legislative framework permitting full participation of men and women in all aspects of social and economic development, equitable access to productive resources

• Acknowledgement is made of existing frameworks that allow policy-makers and planners to gain a clearer understanding of the dynamics operating at the household and community levels. This would enable them to formulate more gender-responsive national policies

• Acknowledgement is also made of the need to fill data gaps.

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Gender, Official Statistics and the NSS (cont.)

1. WHERE ARE THE GAPS?

(a) In an “era of communication” growing information on the productive roles of men and women is often not sufficiently substantiated by reliable statistics.

• Notorious deficiencies and shortcomings of gender data include the absence of reliable sources, a lack of precision, and weakness of analysis.

•Quite often, these statistics are too limited in scope and coverage, and do not allow for generalization.

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1. Where are the Gaps? (cont.)

(b) Gender-related information also suffers from a weak dissemination system. When data are available, they are usually diffused only partially and selectively without a real awareness of the target audience

(c) The generation and use of information on gender issues compete with many other priorities

(d) Generally speaking, developing countries suffer from the failure of statistical systems to respond to data needs. As a result, they do not have the social, demographic, economic data needed for accurate development planning.

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2. What are the Gender Data Gaps within the NSS?

• Gender disaggregated data is needed on:

• Political participation• Education• Health• Crime• Economic activities, contribution, access to productive resources• Energy• etc• In summary voice, rights and resources

“No data, no visibility - no visibility, no priority”

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2. Weaknesses of Gender-Specific Statistics

• Lack of adequate concepts, definitions and methods within the national statistical system to adequately reflect the different role and contributions of women and men in society;

• Uncoordinated efforts within the NSS in the collection, analysis and dissemination of gender statistics creates certain problems:

– Cultural and religious factors, stereotypes and local customs that contribute to making women less visible and prevent both enumerators and respondents from providing correct and reliable information as a result of inconsistent efforts at building national capacity in gender statistics;

– Under-utilization of existing gender statistics as a feature of inconsistent dissemination of statistics;

– Lack of communication between producers and users of data as a feature of uncoordinated NSS strategy;

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What Needs to be done for an Effective NSS?

• Gender statistics are frequently not produced because of a lack of interest and demand from potential users and an ill-prepared NSS

• In order to formulate statistical needs accurately, a strategic collective is required by policy-makers, public and private development practitioners, NGOs and other involved users of gender-related data need to consider the following points:

– Gender awareness and a minimum of gender analysis expertise are essential for their activities;

– The institutionalization of a gender approach can facilitate collaboration between users and producers of data;

– Methodological guidance is needed both in the collection phase and during the tabulation and analysis stages;

– Resources (such as time and funds) need to be made available since gender statistics are rarely included in existing development plans and budgets.

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What needs to be done? (cont.)

•This dialogue is particularly important in the determination of the categories of data to be collected and the selection of indicators.

•Relevant data collection will also depend on the ability of statisticians to extend their horizons to social and gender issues.

•Users (such as gender experts and decision-makers) to upgrade their skills in order to understand, interpret and use statistical data correctly.

•Collaboration can be furthered through workshops, technical committees, expert consultations and the integration of statisticians in

policy-making processes.

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THANK YOU