ANALYZING CENSUS DATA WITH A GENDER FOCUSSession 2

Engendering the census

Preparatory activities:   census content census operations 

  Examples:

Changing census questions to better capture employment Part-time work Secondary economic activities

Training enumerators to ensure information is accurate for both men and women

Key definitions

Gender:

refers to the relatively fluid socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given societyconsiders appropriate for men and women 

Feminine and Masculine

Sex: the relatively fixed biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women

  

Female and Male

Gender statistics is about identifying, producing, disseminating, and analyzing statistics ….

to understand how gender issues affect individuals and society.

Gender statistics is not about

women only. It is about the role of both

women and men in society.

Three components of gender analysis

(1) sex-disaggregated data +

(2) analysis +

(3) gender perspective

= gender analysis

“…there is a lack of sex-disaggregated data on many of the topics…”

United Nations Statistics Division

Census data disaggregated by sex

"...sex should be considered the overriding variable in all tables, irrespective of the medium of storage or dissemination.

This disaggregation by gender should be provided in all publications, databases and computer printouts of census tables on individuals."

Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (UNSD, 2008)

Three components of gender analysis

(1) sex-disaggregated data +

(2) analysis +

(3) gender perspective

= gender analysis

What is data analysis?

in-depth review of the data exploring data with particular issues in mind visualization / graphing cross-tabulation drawing out key findings and messages commentary and descriptive text ...

Six phases of census operations (UNSD, 2008):

 1. preparatory work2. enumeration3. data processing4. build databases and

disseminate results5. evaluation of the results6. analysis of the results

Generic Statistical Business Process Model(UNECE, 2009)

 

UNSD recommendations for analysis Draw up a multi-year programme of analytical studies

descriptive summaries policy-oriented studies of census results detailed analytical studies of particular issues

Invite others to participate in the analysis programme government organizations research institutions non-government organizations

Link census results to other surveys, etc

Encourage researchers to do their own analyses

(1) sex-disaggregated data +

(2) analysis +

(3) gender perspective

= gender analysis

Three components of gender analysis

Beijing Platorm for Action (1995)

A 2010 review found that after 15 years: Progress cannot be measured in

critical areas because of “limited or non-existent data”

“despite efforts to improve…many gaps remain”

“need for increased investment in data collection and analysis”

Source: Commission on the Status of Women 2010 (E/CN.6/2010/CRP.5)

Gender perspective

How can we ensure statisticians / statistical products have a gender focus?

training employing gender experts within the NSO working with gender equality organizations

and experts creating a gender statistics unit participating in groups and conferences

focused on gender issues ...