Disseminating gender statistics: The Canadian experience

1. Disseminating gender statistics: The Canadian experience Heather Dryburgh, Ph.D. Statistics Canada

2. Outline • Background • Dissemination projects for diverse data users • Statistical tables • Access to microdata • Analytic papers • Recent initiatives: • Gender and work database • Women and the Information Society • Conclusions

3. Canadian Context • Commitment to gender equality – equality of treatment and outcomes • Legal framework – 1985 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms • Beijing 1995 and Federal Plan for Gender Equality • Gender-Based Analysis

4. STC’s mandate • Statistics Act: “to collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistical information relating to the commercial, industrial, financial, social, economic and general activities and condition of the people” • Quality Assurance: • Relevance, Accuracy, • Timeliness, Accessibility • Interpretability, Coherence

5. Producing gender statistics • Tailored to the audience • Level of expertise • Policy needs • Ease of access • User/Producer dialogue • Importance of consultation • An example from the General Social Survey

6. Dissemination of gender statistics The Daily, STC’s Internet release journal (www.statcan.ca) • Statistical tables • Canadian Statistics (free) • CANSIM II (small charge) • Finding Data on Women: A Guide to Major Data Sources at Statistics Canada.

7. Dissemination of gender statistics • Access to microdata • Issues: • Privacy Act • Confidentiality of information • Dissemination • Research Data Centres • Public Use Microdata files • Data Liberation Initiative

8. Dissemination of gender statistics • Analytic papers • Complexity determined by the audience • Flagship journals • Analytic papers and contributions to scholarly journals • Occasional special publications • Women in Canada • Conference participation • Statistics Canada’s annual Socio-economic Conference

9. New innovations in disseminating gender statistics: The Gender and Work Database and Women in the Information Society

10. the gender and work database

11. Developing a “meta-level tool” York University, Statistics Canada, plus many other partners • noted absences or gaps in the existing, publicly available data - devising new ways of accessing this data • identified and created relationships between variables not already considered by STC or in the existing literature • involved experts in the field for multi-dimensional tables as well as key concepts and resources • develop ways to link social science knowledge to methods of dissemination

12. provides users with the tools to move between data sources offers multiple paths into given subject area combines original scholarship with data tables gwd

13. the gender and work database the modules are: • comparative perspectives on gender and work • health care industry • migration • precarious employment • technology • unions • unpaid work

14. two sides of gwd statistical component library component thesaurus

15. Using the GWD • start with conceptual guides • look through the thesaurus for key concepts • search the library for citations, analytical papers, and stats tables

16. Possible applications gender & work database obtain basic information theorize complex social relations data export and analysis

20. Data in the gender and work database

21. Measuring Infostates for Development: Panel discussion on gender-specific data and indicators on ICT use and needs Women in the Information Society Statistical evidence and analysis of the gender digital divide Heidi Ertl and Heather Dryburgh, Statistics Canada November 17, 2005 Tunis, Tunisia

22. Women in the Information Society Project rationale • Call for reliable and comparable gender-specific indicators on ICTs (WSIS Plan of Action) • Scarcity of gender-related ICT measurements and analyses • scope of coverage and degree of detail • Need to quantify gender digital divide • Aim to launch a publication with the research results at the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis

23. Women in the Information Society Project objectives • Construct pilot database • Extensive compilation of sex-disaggregated statistical data on ICTs and gender • Dealing with limitations and challenges • Conduct analysis • Quantitative analysis supported by the database • Analysis of a qualitative nature to begin to address outcomes and impacts of ICTs for women

24. Women in the Information Society Structure of the chapter • Quantitative analysis - what do the numbers tell us? • Supported by the database and attempts to close existing measurement gaps • Contains statistical evidence and analysis of women’s experiences in both developed and developing countries • Magnitude and evolution of gender digital divide with respect to: • Access and patterns of use • ICT literacy, education and skills • ICT employment • Other digital divides

25. Women in the Information Society • Qualitative analysis • Take into account information of a qualitative nature related to individual country circumstances, social norms, histories, cultures, etc • Focus on developing regions of Africa, Latin America and Asia • Analysis based on established framework of gender issues in ICT

26. Women in the Information Society • Elements of the gender digital divide Do women have: • Access to ICTs? • Use of the information and knowledge generated in the Information Society? • Input into the design, development and application of ICTs? • The benefits associated with the opportunities and resources of the Information Society?

27. Conclusions Approach • User/producer dialogue • Link data to research questions • Data and analytic content in combination with contextual information Results in a wide range of products that: • inform gender-based analysis • provide benchmarks for more in-depth qualitative research • provide the evidence on which policy is made