UN Women has had a strong presence at the 51st Session of UN Statistical Commission, advocating for more and better gender data, and reflected in the commitments expressed by Member States. Here are some ways UN Women has participated in the Commission.
Statement of UN Women on discussion of data for monitoring the SDGs
UN Women firmly believes that monitoring the leave-no-one-behind principle requires going beyond simple data disaggregation: it requires looking carefully intersecting inequalities and gender equality and women’s empowerment should be at the centre.
As part of its Women Count global gender data program, last week UN Women, in collaboration with the UN Statistics Division, successfully concluded a two-day Global Conference on Gender and Intersecting Inequalities – many thanks to everyone who have participated and contributed, a lot of whom are also this room. The sessions have touched on various strategies on how we can translate this concept to practice – in the context of national statistical systems as well as the broader data ecosystem. That is, how we can tap on other data sources and integrate information so we can make the invisible women and girls – visible using better and more disaggregated gender data and statistics. The Conference was recorded, and all presentations are available at data.unwomen.org for anyone who is interested.
Examples and good practices presented, insights and recommendations shared during the Conference will feed into and inform the practical tools we at UN Women are developing with UNSD, in collaboration with the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys. Further, the development of the tools is based on work that UN Women and UNSD are doing with seven participating countries. These country case studies are not only methodological, they also emphasize the process of fostering collaboration and co-creation between national statistical offices and other stakeholders, including policy makers, civil society and academia. We hope that this will be an important contribution to the work of the IAEG-SDGs on data disaggregation.
Discussion on gender statistics
Several member states expressed recognition of UN Women's support during the agenda item on gender statistics. Here are some excerpts from their statements. Note that they have been edited for length and clarity.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat
We would like to recognise the collaborative work in Gender Statistics in CARICOM and in this regard we wish to express appreciation to UN Women, the Government of Italy, the Inter-American Development Bank and Canada for their support in bridging the data gaps.
Grenada (on behalf of CARICOM)
In terms of the advancement of time use data, Grenada is happy to be one of a number of CARICOM countries that intends to include at least one question in its Census that would allow for benchmark information on the measurement of unpaid care and domestic work which is being supported by UN Women as well as the Government of Italy and the Inter- American Development Bank.
This will allow for the reporting on SDG Indicator 5.4.1: Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location, which will certainly support our countries effort in promoting gender equality and women empowerment. UN Women continues to collaborate with the CARICOM Regional Statistics Programme to enhance Caribbean-wide production, analysis and dissemination of gender statistics in accordance with the CARICOM Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics and to support evidenced monitoring of progress of the SDGs.
Grenada also with the support of UN Women was able to report on the CARICOM Gender Equality Indicators and therefore has intentions of continuously monitoring those indicators.
Georgia
First of all, let me express our high appreciation of the work that UN Women performs in Georgia.
Geostat has been fruitfully cooperating with the UN Women over the years. But it was during last 2 or 3 years, that we conducted probably the largest cooperation projects between our institutions - I am speaking about the comprehensive survey on Violence against women, which for the first time provided credible data on violence against women.
Also,the assessment of the gender statistics system in Georgia should be mentioned, which was conducted by an independent expert, with the close cooperation of UN Women. The assessment report highlighted current achievements in the production of gender statistics in Georgia, identified existing challenges and provide approaches and recommendations.
Our cooperation with UN women is still in progress. During the next two years, we are going to conduct a Time Use Survey with the financial and technical assistance of UN Women. We are very happy with launching this very important project, which has never been carried out in Georgia. We are confident that the project will be very beneficial and will enhance implementation of the issues related to gender equality, empowerment of women and SDG monitoring.
I would like also to mention, that In July, last year, Georgia hosted the Regional Conference on Gender Statistics, dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Statistics in Georgia and 20 Years of Collecting Gender Statistics data. UN women gave us great opportunity to celebrate our 100th anniversary on a large scale. More than 400 hundred people participated in this event, from institutions in Georgia as well as from different countries.
Once again, I would like to take opportunity and express my sincere appreciation to UN Women, which is still one of the key partners of Geostat, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership and fruitful cooperation with them to achieve our common strategic goals.
Kenya
The ‘Counted and Visible’ workshop on gender and intersecting inequalities that took place on 26 and 27 February, was an important milestone in our quest to ‘leave no one behind’. Both with regards to our programs and actions, but even more so in relation to our statistical measurement.
We have some examples in Kenya of how we are using a combination of the disaggregated analysis of existing data sources and small area estimation techniques for planning and policy formulation at the lowest geographic level. The Council of Governors in Kenya, in collaboration with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and UN Women, developed county gender data sheets. These data sheets provide County-level baseline data for tracking progress on the implementation of gender equality and women empowerment indicators and are also expected to inform gender mainstreaming strategies. This is an example of how appropriate disaggregation of existing data sources by sex, age, disability and income status can be used as evidence to inform the planning and monitoring of development activities.
Kenya will be conducting our first Time Use Survey in collaboration with UN Women from April onward. It will be a module of the Kenya Continuous Household Survey Program (KCHSP) and the data will be used to inform Kenya’s programmatic interventions related to the recognition and valuation of unpaid care and domestic work and its contribution to GDP through the system of National Accounts.
Mongolia
Mongolia's National Statistics Office, with the support of UN Women's Women Count programme, is working towards enhancing the availability of gender data on priority issues for the country, such as environment statistics, an area that features prominently in Mongolia's Sustainable Development Vision 2030. We just recently conducted local workshop trainings together, to data producers at ministerial level, students, users as also journalists.
With UN Women's support, Mongolia is working to produce statistics for women's herders, as well as to conduct a survey on disasters and environment from a gender perspective. In addition, the NSO plans to publish gender data disaggregated at multiple levels in the coming months.
Philippines
We look forward to working with the UN Women on statistical training and capacity development support to countries in various regions.
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is part of UN Women’s flagship programme entitled ‘Women Count’. This initiative is aimed at the radical shift in the availability, accessibility and use of statistics on key aspects on gender equality and women's empowerment in Sierra Leone. With support from UN Women in Sierra Leone, Stats SL is currently developing a proposal to implement the project nation-wide. Stats SL will work closely with the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and other relevant agencies to strengthen data collection in the country. We are grateful to UN Women Sierra Leone for the continued support.
UN Women
UN Women supports the work and future priorities of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics and we will continue to contribute to it as a member. We appreciate the work done so far by the Expert Group on Innovative and Effective Ways to Collect Time-Use Statistics and support the continuation of the work and terms and reference of the Group.
As one the co-custodian agency of SDG indicator 5.4.1, UN Women is a one of the major stakeholders supporting surveys and using time use statistics more broadly. In 2020 alone, UN Women is supporting at least 14 countries in various regions to conduct or analyse time use surveys and another 10 violence against women surveys are being supported since 2017. Therefore, we stand ready to contribute our valuable experience and lessons learned to enrich the work of the Group.
UN Women would like to reiterate to the Commission that the need to disaggregate data, by sex, location, disability and other relevant characteristics, to ensure that the status of women and girls who are left behind is monitored, is essential for a true gender perspective. In this regard, the Counted and Visible Conference organized last week by UN Women and the Statistics Division and the tools that we are developing together, in collaboration with countries, will offer valuable lessons.
Lastly, this Sunday marks International Women’s day, so we greatly appreciate the preparations being made by the Statistics Division on the preparation of the World’s Women 2020, to report on the latest statistics and analysis of progress towards gender equality. This is certainly a valuable contribution as we mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). And in this regard, UN Women just released today the main report feeding into the deliberations of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Side events
Friday Seminar on Emerging Issues: HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS IN A CHANGING DATA LANDSCAPE: Challenges, Opportunities and an Agenda for the Future.
On 28 February, the United Nations Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys, organized a day-long seminar for national statistical offices, international organizations and the research community to debate and discuss strategies to realize the full potential of household surveys in a changing data landscape. UN Women's chief statistician Papa Seck served as Moderator for Session 2 on Adding Value to Household Surveys through Integration.
From Promise to Practice: Leaving No One Behind Through Inclusive Data Approaches
On 2 March, UN Women's chief statistician Papa Seck shared some of UN Women's learnings around inclusive data at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by the Inclusive Data Charter (IDC) and IDC Champions, to increase collaboration and coordination across different actors and geographies on inclusive data approaches.
Building Trust in Citizen Generated data
On 3 March, UN Women's chief statistician Papa Seck moderated a panel on country experiences and processes for strengthening citizen generated data, organized by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.
Gendered effects of marriage and child rearing on labour market outcomes
On 3 March, UN Women and ILO organized a lunch time seminar on ‘Gendered effects of marriage and child rearing on labor market outcomes’. This seminar introduced new labor market indicators related to Goal 8 (Decent work and Economic growth). The work is a product of a partnership between UN Women and ILO. UN Women's chief statistician Papa Seck, and Research and Data Policy Specialist Ginette Azcona were speakers on the panel. Key findings emerging from the analysis were presented, including on the role of family dynamics and structures in women’s access to employment opportunities.
United Nations World Data Forum Information Briefing
On 4 March, UN Women hosted an information briefing on the upcoming World Data Forum in Bern, along with the UN Statistics Division and the Government of Switzerland.
