Gender Statistics Programme at the United Nations Keiko Osaki-Tomita, Ph.D. Chief Demographic and Social Statistics Branch United Nations Statistics Division.

Gender Statistics Programme at the United Nations

Keiko Osaki-Tomita, Ph.D.Chief

Demographic and Social Statistics BranchUnited Nations Statistics Division

Egypt National Seminar on Census Data Analysis, Cairo,17-19 May 2010

Gender Issues and Statistics

What are gender issues?Gender issues generally refer to concerns by society

about specific differences in the lives or wellbeing of women and men.

Why are gender statistics important? The statistics are vital for understanding many aspects

of wellbeing and wellbeing and progress. Gender statistics provide separate data for women and men across many dimensions of life, revealing differences and relationships between them.

Historical development of gender perspectives

Early years….1946 Establishment of the Commission on the Status of

Women1967 Adoption of the Declaration on the Elimination of

Discrimination against Women1975 International Women’s Year World Conference 1976 Launching of the UN Decades for Women (1976-1986)1979 Adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination against Women1985 World Conference to Review the UN Decade for Women,

Nairobi, Kenya

Historical development of gender perspectives

Recent years….1994 International Conference on Population and

Development, Cairo, Egypt1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China

- Adoption of the Platform of Action2000 Millennium Summit - Adoption of the UN Millennium Declaration, from

which 8 goals were developed2010 High-level Plenary Meeting (2010 Millennium Summit)

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) MDGs are the most broadly supported development goals the world has

ever agreed upon. They have 8 time-bound goals;

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerGoal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education 3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector 3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reduce child mortalityGoal 5: Improve maternal healthGoal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

UNSD’s Work on Gender Statistics

Methodological work Compilation and dissemination of statistics Technical cooperation and capacity building Promotion of synergies among existing

initiatives

Methodological Work (1)

Review concepts and methods used in the collection of official statistics

Identify ways of integrating a gender perspective in data collection, presentation and dissemination

Produce relevant manuals and technical reports

Methodological WorK (2)

Development of methods on particular gender issues of concern Statistics on time use

Indicators on violence against women, led by Friend of the Chair of the UN Statistics Commission (Mexico)

Compilation and Dissemination of Gender Statistics (1)

Make gender statistics and indicators readily available and accessible to users.

On-line resources: Statistics and Indicators on Women and Men

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm

GenderInfo 2007

Compilation and Dissemination of Gender Statistics (2)

“The World’s Women”A flagship publication to analyze the situation of women and men, and to assess the progress made in the production of gender statistics.

Published every 5 years, since 1990.

The 5th issue, The 2010 World’s Women: Trends and Statistics, is forthcoming.

Technical Cooperation and Capacity Building

Offers a variety of technical assistance in gender statistics to national statistical offices, regional programmes and UN agencies. Training workshops at national, regional

and interregional levels Direct technical assistance to countries

Promotion of Synergies among Existing Initiatives

Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS)To take stock, review progress, challenges and emerging

needs, and propose actions to advance gender statistics.

Global Forum on Gender Statistics Rome, Italy in 2007 Accra, Ghana in 2009 Manila, the Philippines in October 2010

Concluding remarks

Thank you !