Gender Statistics and the work of the National Development Plan Gender Equality Unit, Ireland

2. Mark Manto, Statistician, NDP Gender Equality Unit, Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform Gender Statistics and the work of the National Development Plan Gender Equality Unit, Ireland

3. National Development Plan 2000 - 2006 Plan for regional development in Ireland Worth €51 billion 93% funded by the Irish Government, 7% by EU Structural Funds Consists of 130 measures (e.g. roads, micro-enterprise, regional public transport, sports & leisure facilities)

4. 6 Operational Programmes Economic and Social Infrastructure Employment and Human Resources Productive Investment Border, Midland and Western Region Southern and Eastern Region Peace

5. NDP Gender Equality Unit Set up in 2000 to support policy makers in gender mainstreaming NDP measures, provides Advice Training Monitoring Research Co-funded by ESF Current staff of 5 - Head of Unit (vacanct), statistician, gender equality expert, two administrative staff

6. Gender mainstreaming? Gender mainstreaming (GMS) is a strategy adopted to promote equal opportunities between women and men in the Structural Funds – and across almost all Measures of the NDP It means putting genderequality into mainstreampolicies Traditionally legislation allowed women & men equal access to different opportunities. So why bother with gender mainstreaming?

8. Gender statistics and the work of the Unit Performance indicators in the NDP – disaggregated In 2002, Unit developed and launched its own website www.ndpgenderequality.ie All statistical information, reports and research are available to download free from this website Given our policy maker target audience, website is a very efficient and effective means of communication and dissemination of material

9. Three databanks of gender disaggregated statistics complied in 2000, 2002, 2004 From all known sources Government Departments, State Agencies, NGO’s, Universities, etc. Statistics provided relevant to particular measures, topics and geographic regions 2004 data presented can be downloaded in graph and spreadsheet formats

11. When initial databank was compiled in 2000, report produced outlining major data gaps relevant to NDP areas Housing – population increase, home ownership Transport – labour force, effect of ‘Celtic Tiger’ Enterprise – entrepreneurship, start-ups Training in employment – lifelong learning Flexible working arrangements – family friendly policies Job seniority and roles – increase in female participation Progress over time – longitudinal studies Time use – unpaid work

12. Housing and transport Research surveys carried out in 2001 and 2004 Report produced ‘Women and Men in Ireland: their transport use and their housing tenure’ Transport: difference between women and men car ownership rates narrowing Housing: difference in level (%) and amount (€) of rent or mortgage paid by women and men also appears to be decreasing over time

13. Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Research survey carried out in 2003 Report produced ‘Women and Men in Ireland as Entrepreneurs and as Business Managers’ More male entrepreneurs exported than female entrepreneurs Less female entrepreneurs used IT for business transactions than male entrepreneurs More male than female entrepreneurs had previously set up a business Low numbers in contact with State agencies or in training

14. Training in employment and Life long learning Flexible working arrangements Job seniority levels and roles The first two covered by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) through special modules of the labour force survey – Quarterly National Household Survey Job roles to be covered through the CSO’s new National Employment Survey, fieldwork and data collection for which was carried out last year Progress over time – EU SILC ? (replacing ECHP survey) Time use and unpaid work – possible inclusion in Census 2006

15. Previous slide highlights importance of dialogue between users & producers of statistics and between producers Briefing sessions were held for Central Statistics Office staff (with CSO staff involvement) focused on data issues, gaps, policy concerns, data use – within the context of an increase in evidence based policy making The last point very important – that those producing the statistics know that what they produce is valued and the uses data is put to – enables flexibility of response and evolution of collection and production methods

16. Indicators Beijing Platform for Action ‘areas of concern’ Production of listing of potential indicators in Ireland Data lacking for majority of this long listing Highlights need for an agreed, relevant to policy concerns and realistic set of indicators for which reliable, timely data exists Less is more (e.g. Laeken indicators - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary indicators gender disaggregated) CSO’s ‘Measuring Ireland’s Progress’ - disaggregated

17. Other areas of work Agriculture Department of Agriculture and Food report ‘Role of Women in Agriculture’ in 2000 Recommendations over a wide range of areas of farm life and supports Unit undertook to progress two recommendations ‘Assessment of main gaps in existing information on women in agriculture’ Spring 2003 – identified areas/gaps of interest for possible future work One area identified was an attitudinal survey of the role of women on the farm

18. ‘Women and Men on Farms in Ireland – their activities, attitudes and experiences’ Research survey carried out in 2003/2004 More women than men had paid employment off the farm – most full-time employment Inheritance/succession by a son ‘keeping the name on the land’ was important consideration for women and men Men ascribed a higher level of importance to the work of women on the farm than the women placed on their own work! Responses of women and men often very similar

19. Regional requirement for data in Ireland at NUTS2, NUTS3 and NUTS4 levels ‘Geographic Gender Equality – Women and Men across the regions of Ireland’ Analysis of existing Census and other data by region and presentation in colour coded maps and tables

20. Information resources not just for the specialist topics or policy makers Taking the example of Statistics Sweden, produced: ‘Women and Men in Ireland: Facts and Figures’ Small pocket sized booklet EU Presidency

21. Work also included further research on indicators listing relevant to the ‘Areas of concern’ identified in the Beijing Platform for Action for NSW Cross Government Department work on the ‘Steering Group for Social and Equality Statistics’ identifying data sources and data needs across Government Assistance to organisations with gender disaggregated data holdings Assist in developing gender disaggregated indicators

22. So we provide…baseline & context statistics Factsheets and information resources on a range of specific measures & topics, e.g. Relevance sheets for each NDP measure ‘How to…..’ sheets Used in conjunction with dialogue and persuasion Project selection, Implementation, Evaluation Progress, but uneven. For GMS prog. indicators: more than output no.s of women & men…1ststep