2013/05/14 – Gender statistics are defined as
statistics that adequately reflect differences and inequalities in the
situation of women and men in all areas of life (United Nations, 2006).This
definition closely follows the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth
World Conference on Women in 1995, which requested national, regional and
international statistical services to “ensure that statistics related to
individuals are collected, compiled, analysed and presented by sex and age and
reflect problems, issues and questions related to women and men in society”
(United Nations, 1995, para 206 (a)). There are several requirements imbedded
in the definition of gender statistics (Hedman et al, 1996; United Nations,
2001a; 2001b; 2002; 2006; 2007; Corner, 2003). First, gender statistics have to
reflect gender issues – questions, problems and concerns related to all aspects
of women’s and men’s lives, including their specific needs, opportunities, or
contributions to society. In every society there are differences between what
is expected, allowed and valued in a woman and what is expected allowed and
valued in a man. These differences have a specific impact on women’s and men’s
lives throughout all life stages, and determine, for example, differences in
health, education, work, family life, or general well-being. Producing gender
statistics entails disaggregating individual data by sex and other
characteristics to reveal those differences or inequalities, and collecting
data on specific issues that affect one sex more than the other or relate to
gender relations between women and men. Second, gender statistics should
adequately reflect differences and inequalities in the situation of women and
men. It means that concepts and definitions used in data collection are developed
in such a way that the diversity of various groups of women and men, their
specific activities and challenges are captured. Also, data collection should
be based on methods that reduce gender bias in data collection, such as
underreporting of women’s economic activity, underreporting of violence against
women, or undercounting of girls, their births or their deaths.

In summary, gender statistics are defined by the sum of the
following characteristics:

• Data are collected and presented disaggregated by sex
  as a primary and overall classification;
• Data are reflecting 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;
• Data collection methods take into account stereotypes
  and social and cultural factors that may induce gender biases in the data.

Gender statistics are more than data disaggregated by sex.
The characteristics above are useful in differentiating between
sex-disaggregated statistics (the first requirement in the list above) and
gender statistics (incorporating all four requirements). Sex-disaggregated
statistics are simply data collected and tabulated separately for women and
men. Having data by sex does not guarantee, for example, that data collection
instruments involved in data production were conceived to reflect gender roles,
relations and inequalities in society (United Nations Statistics Division,
2001a). Furthermore, some statistics that incorporate a gender perspective are
not necessarily statistics presented disaggregated by sex. For example,
national accounts statistics incorporating a gender perspective take into
account both women’s and men’s contribution to all social and economic areas,
including unpaid work.

Confusion between “sex” and “gender” still persists among producers and users
of statistics (United Nations Statistics Division, 2001a; United Nations, 2002;
Corner, 2003; UNECE and the World Bank Institute, 2010). The word “sex” refers
to biological differences between women and men. Biological differences are
fixed and unchangeable and do not vary across cultures and overtime. “Gender”
refers to socially-constructed differences in attributes and opportunities
associated with being female or male and to the social interactions and
relationships between women and men. Gender determines what is expected,
allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context. In most societies,
there are differences and inequalities between women and men in roles and
responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, access to and control over
resources, as well as decision-making opportunities. These differences and
inequalities between the sexes are shaped over by the history of social
relations, and change over time and across cultures.

The term “gender” has often been wrongly used in association with data. “Gender
disaggregation” or “data disaggregated by gender” are incorrect terms. Gender
statistics are disaggregated by sex, an individual-level characteristics
commonly recorded in censuses, surveys and administrative sources, and not by
gender, a social concept relevant at the level of a population group(Corner,
2003). When data on demographic, social or economic characteristics are
collected in the field, it is the sex of a person that is recorded as female
(woman) or male (female), not the gender. Sex-disaggregated data, however, when
analysed, have the capacity to reveal differences in women’s and men’s lives
that are the result of gender roles and expectations.

Gender statistics should not be equated with women’s statistics. The
understanding of gender statistics, their uses and users has changed over time
(Hedman et al, 1996; Corner, 2003). Initial work focused on producing
statistics on women, in the context where many countries were collecting data
by sex, but most of the data were analysed and/or made available to the users
as totals, without the possibility of differentiating between women and men.
The demand for data and indicators on women came from women’s organizations and
women’s advocates, who needed statistics to support new policies and programmes
oriented toward reducing the disadvantages of women. Since then, however, the
focus has shifted from “women only” to “women and men” both in terms of
statistics and in terms of policies. In terms of statistics, it became clear
that the situation of women could be adequately described and analysed only by
comparison to men. In addition, statisticians have recognized that improvement
is needed in statistics on men as well (Hedman et al, 1996). Specific issues
related to men’s lives – such as harmful use of drinking and smoking, greater
risk of accidents or other injuries, or access to paid paternity leave – have
been increasingly taken into account and covered by gender statistics. In terms
of policies, the change of focus from women to gender has been based on the
recognition that isolating women’s concerns from mainstream development
policies and strategies has have a limited impact, and that paying more
attention to the roles and responsibilities of both women and men and their
interrelationships can further improve the effectiveness of policies.