Improving Gender Statistics: A World Bank Plan of Action

1. Improving Gender Statistics:A World Bank Plan of Action Sulekha Patel Senior Demographer Development Data Group The World Bank September 11, 2007

2. Presentation Outline • Background to the Gender Action Plan • Rationale for choice of focus areas • Priority gender issues in the Gender Action Plan • Gender statistics strategy to support the Gender Action Plan • Capacity-building efforts to improve availability and use of sex-disaggregated data

3. Background • Countries falling behind in their commitment to meet MDG3 • Gender mainstreaming is a sound policy, but it should be more operationally relevant and focused on results • More, and better gender statistics are needed to improve analytical work and identify good practices in promoting women’s economic empowerment • For the World Bank, assigning priority to work in the economic sectors would give gender issues more traction

4. Rationale • Gains in women’s economic opportunities lag behind those in women’s capabilities. • Increased female labour force participation and earnings associated with faster growth. • Women, and society, will benefit from their economic empowerment.

5. Overall objectives of Gender Action Plan Promote women’s economic advancement through interventions at: Policy level Agency level Empower women to compete in markets Make markets work for women Gender Action Plan

6. Framework Agency Level Policy Level Infrastructure Increases Access to all 4 Markets Gender Action Plan

7. Regional priorities:Middle East and North Africa Gender Action Plan

8. Regional priorities:Middle East and North Africa • Operational and analytical work to advance region’s ongoing efforts to provide women access to public resources, jobs and benefits, and assets • Gender and infrastructure, especially as it relates to women’s time use • Linkages between formal and informal labour markets • Work on investment climate assessments and women’s role in the private sector Gender Action Plan

9. Action 1 Engender Operations & Technical Assistance in Economic Sectors Action 2 Implement Results-Based Initiatives (RBIs) Action 3 Improve Research & Statistics • Core Objective • Empower women to compete in: • Product markets • Financial markets • Land markets • Labor markets • . Four Action Areas Gender Action Plan

10. Action 3Improve Research and Statistics Action Improve knowledge and statistics on women’s economic participation and the relationship between gender equality, growth, and poverty reduction. Performance indicators include: • Increased number of sex-disaggregated impact evaluations of Bank interventions. • Greater understanding of the gender-differentiated effects of policy reforms. • Greater understanding of the determinants of women’s economic empowerment. • Increased in-country capacity to collect and analyze sex-disaggregated statistics, and improved quality and availability of sex-disaggregated labor force and employment data. Gender Action Plan

11. Gender Statistics Strategy:Support for Gender Action Plan • Proposes actions in three areas: • Improve availability of gender indicators, based on mining data from surveys, initially working with target countries • Identify new indicators/gaps and establish strategies to collect data to support monitoring progress in the four key markets identified by GAP • Build national capacity to provide relevant data to make gender analysis an integral part of countries’ results-based agendas Gender Statistics Strategy

12. Modalities of operation Two main strategies: • Collaboration: • Work with international agencies and academic and research institutions • Develop synergies with existing national and international programs in areas of mutual interest • Bank commitments: • Support for the MAPS through the Development Grant Facility and Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building • Raise profile of gender statistics through the Data Quality Assessment Frameworks and the General Data Dissemination System for social statistics • Develop training for Bank staff to integrate gender dimensions in economic and sector work • Disseminate data and statistics through the World Development Indicators Gender Statistics Strategy

13. Strategy for gender statistics: Improve data availability • Data mining of LSMS and other surveys in the Bank’s database: • Identify and fill gaps in coverage of data needed for monitoring progress of GAP • Identify new areas and indicators to monitor for gender equality • Make recommendations for filling gaps: • Develop survey modules and model questions for surveys • Examine other sources of data and experiences with data collection and reporting Gender Statistics Strategy

14. Strategy for gender statistics: Identify new indicators/fill gaps • Establish partnerships with UN agencies, programmes, funds, and researchers to identify appropriate indicators, methodologies, and data collection modalities • Launched a multi-year research and data collection exercise to increase availability of individual asset ownership Gender Statistics Strategy

15. Asset Ownership and Control • Assets serve two main functions: as social safety net — strengthen households’ ability to cope with aggregate shocks (financial crises, natural disasters) and idiosyncratic shocks (divorce, illness, or death). as an income generating mechanism —providing productive capacity, ensuring access to credit, capital, etc. • Most data on assets are collected only at the household level – leading to an incomplete or partial understanding of individual-level ownership patterns Gender Statistics Strategy

16. Individual Assets: Data collection • Two modalities have been proposed: • A self-standing questionnaire to collect household and individual level data on: • Land, housing • Businesses • Other financial assets, including debt • Livestock • Integrating with existing questionnaires, such as the LSMS survey instruments Gender Statistics Strategy

17. Strategy for gender statistics:Build national capacity • Collaborate with other agencies: • To improve data collection • With the ILO to collect and use sex-disaggregated employment data in partnership—executed by UNECE and UNSD (2008-2009) • To sensitize statisticians in national statistics offices to engender statistics • With UNECE and ECLAC to improve collection, use, and reporting of gender statistics (under way) – to be replicated in other regions • Three-year project on Gender Sensitization Training, 2007-2009 (funded by the DGF under the Marrakesh Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS) Gender Statistics Strategy Capacity Building

18. Gender Sensitization Programme: Instruments Development of a Consolidated Training Manual Regional Training of Trainers National follow-up Workshops (by local trainers) Community of Practice Web Portal Provide a structured resource for trainers Have trainers experience the Interactive learning design and build confidence and trust Organize larger- scale dissemination of information to build awareness and ultimately effect policy decision making Support trainers in the preparation of national trainings, foster peer-to-peer learning and create a sustainable community of experts in the region Gender Statistics Strategy Capacity Building

19. Strategy for gender statistics: Build National Capacity • Work with existing programs to add gender indicators to household surveys and co-ordinate survey activities: • International Household Survey Network, • Accelerated Data Program for Sub-Saharan Africa • Pilot new modules in Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire • Under umbrella of MAPS, work with PARIS 21 to engender National Strategies for the Development of Statistics Gender Statistics Strategy Capacity Building

20. NSDS - Status for Middle East and North Africa Country 2004 2005 2006 Algeria - - Process initiated Djibouti Process initiated Completed Completed Egypt, Arab Rep. Not yet started Not yet started Not yet started Iran, Islamic Rep. Not yet started Not yet started Underway Iraq Process initiated Process initiated Process initiated Jordan Process initiated Process initiated Process initiated Lebanon Underway Underway Underway Libya - - Process initiated Morocco Completed Completed Completed Syrian Arab Rep. Underway Underway Underway Tunisia Underway Underway Underway Yemen, Rep. Completed Completed Completed Gender Statistics Strategy Capacity Building