UN report asks governments to improve data collection to better women’s lives
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: January 15, 2006
to better women’s lives
only help to track their status but can also directly improve their
circumstances, a United Nations report released today argues, recommending that
governments gather and publicize more gender-disaggregated data.
“Statistics are unsung yet essential ingredients for economic and social
progress,” said Jose Antonio Ocampo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic
and Social Affairs, launching The
World’s Women 2005: Progress in Statistics at a press
conference in New York.
The absence of data to analyze issues such as sex discrimination poses a
serious problem. “One of the most pronounced shortcomings in this area, with the
most damaging effects, appears in the collection of data disaggregated by sex
and of data focusing on gender issue,” he said.
Mary Chamie, Chief of the Demographic and Social Statistics Branch of the UN
Statistics Division, agreed that States need help with gathering and reporting
data. “Commitment to the Millennium Development Goals has been a prod to
improved statistical collection,” she said, referring to the internationally
agreed anti-poverty targets adopted at a 2000 UN summit meeting.
“But big gaps in reporting remain, and we want to assist governments and
donors to close them,” she added.
The report, prepared by the UN’s Statistical Division, provides a blueprint
for improving the availability of data in demographics, health, education, work,
violence against women, poverty, human rights and decision-making.
The UN plays a key role within the global statistical community by
collecting, compiling, reporting and analyzing data. UN recommendations, for
example, will be taken up by intergovernmental bodies such as the Commission on
the Status of Women, the Commission on Social Development and the Statistical
Commission.
Among its recommendations, the 165-page report suggests that governments
carry out a census every 10 years and to improve gender statistics, ensure the
viability of an integrated national survey programme, and share information with
policy makers and the public in a timely manner so it can be used to good
effect.
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