Online discussion on gender statistics for policy-makers

Good morning everybody. I'm a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Royal Holloway, University of London. I'm working with EIGE as an external expert on statistics and the Gender Statistics Database.

Good morning from Slovakia!

GM Everyone, I´m also participating for the 1st time, excited to be with you all.

Good morning from France!

Good morning from Malta!

Good morning from Beirut! Happy to join today. Will be in and out throughout the day.

I don't know very well the content of the EIGE's Gender Statistics Database, but as far as I know it is a fantastic tool and I'd like to thank the people who's been working on it to make it posible.

I have dipped in occasionally, and see it as potentially very valuable, but I don't think that I've really grasped how to get the best of it!

I participated in EIGE‘s conference, where we were taught how to use Gender Statistics Database. It is very valuable tool for us.

I do have a question regarding the "Have you heard about domestic violence?" question in the "Attitudes, perceptions and norms" thematic area. While the percentages are very high for both men and women (above 95%) and that's great, I still find it very surprising that there are even 5% of some samples that have reported to have never heard of domestic violence. I would have assumed that everyone would have at least heard of domestic violence. Was the question presented to them exactly as it is phrased above, or was it asked within the context of something else?

I am impressed by the number of indicators and statistics that you have in the database!

Done!!.
First impressions: The graphical presentation of the indicators is fantastic, with the color points , the cursor that allows you to see the values ​​and the difference between women and men. Very intuitive

Like Alexia, I looked at violence. Earlier, Karolina referred to gender-based violence – whereas in fact, it appears that focus is only on violence against women.

This is something which is problematic, as males CAN also be victims of violence (including domestic violence), and I think that we really do need to keep a gender balance in this topic, too. Especially as there seems to be some "taboo" which discourages male victims from speaking up (seen as weak to be victim, especially of sexual GBV)

Good morning everyone from Italy

There are certainly an impressive range of variables into which one can dive!

Although I've found myself frustrated by having to take them one by one, where I'd like to be able to compare rapidly between filter elements!! (for example, between different sources of information).

Is it possible to get multi-variables in a table?

Evelyn, In my humble opinión, the discussion on gender-based violence and domestic violence is something that goes beyond the technical aspects we can consider here. Anyway, I only can remenber what the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women said “Gender-based Violence is any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” Domestic violence is something different.

Anyway, you know that this is an old topic and matter of multiple discussions.

When Jordan opened a special service for children to report on violence (about 8 years ago), there were actually more boys than girls who registered (and many of these were for sexually-related violence) - so I'm not sure that our assumption that most victims are "inherently female" - especially among children. Which is perhaps why I've become more concerned about GBV's focus being less restricted to women & girls.

Evelyn yes you are right about child victims differing in demographics from adult victims, particularly in regards to gender. But this is perhaps a discussion for another time or another forum. I do think we are in agreement with each other regarding this issue.

Jose - I agree that it's an old issue in some ways - but if important databases do not respond to the gap in information, how can one build the fact-based arguments and advocacy processes needed to ensure that policies do not exclude this aspect of GBV? As matters stand, all too often people use GBV & VAW as interchangeable terms.

I'm having difficulty "reading" the breakdown chart!

Sorry. I have to leave you for a while. I'll try to re-connect later. but allow me a last question.
When you find an indicator (and it's easy to do it), in the low part of the screen you can find the "timeline" cursor and you can select the year you desire, but .. is it posible to obtain the evolution trought several years for one or several countries?

Yes the other charts are easy to understand. I like the map too as it's easy to make a quick comparison between countries.

Like Jose, (on previous visits to the database) I have wanted to compare over time - and not found how. Except by extracting each year then compiling for myself

Hi Evelyn. If I am not wrong, if the data set is available, the comparison over time can be achieved by selecting line chart instead of bar chart.

Karolina, yes I do find breakdown charts help me with my own analyses. I do think that in the case of this database it can be a bit daunting to see the breakdown chart with no explanation of how it works. Also, when you select one of the breakdowns it shows you the codes of the variables instead of the names. That means we need to go back to the metadata and make sure we note down the codes of the variables that interest us. It might be useful if, for the breakdown chart you included on the same screen a list of the variable codes, or the presented the full variable names instead of the codes.

You are wellcome! :) By selecting Line Chart and ticking the boxes for Men and Women in category Sex you can have a helpful comparison men/women graph over time.

Indeed I ma using the database almost regularly and I find it a very useful tool. Some minor remarks go to the slow speed in visualizing the query requested. Something will help the use I am currently doing is to have regional data at NUTS 2 or NUTS 3 when available. this feature seems not available yet in the database. but this is just a comment to encourage you to keep going ahead with this project which i personally find of great value!!! GOOD JOB !

Ciao Alex, it is my pleasure to participate to this on line discussion! I do not mind having the menu up to the window :) good job!

We are already using it and intend to keep doing so (along with other official national DBs) in terms of our monthly thematic reports of the Observatory of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality (GSGE)

Obviously, where national (and sub-national) data collection does not zoom in on certain information, we continue to have weak areas. e.g. in relation to labour stats - the "invisible" economy; distinguishing between unpaid, part-time, full-time work; & related to Gender Based Violence rather than the (primary) sub-groups VAW & VAG.

I use the database mostly as a tool for my students to explore gender inequality (I teach a short academic course on gender and data). So not really policy work... However, would it be interesting to include data from OECD and also the World Economic Forum (their data for the annual Global Gender Gap Report? Would you consider this? Also, I noticed that there are no indicators and data yet on men and masculinity. Will you be including data from the IMAGES survey studies in the near future, for example?

I use database when need to get data on gender-based violence. Slovak National Centre for Human Rights prepares The Report on the observation of human rights including the principle of equal treatment in the Slovak Republic annually. I work on the chapter analyzing gender-based violence. I find the use of statistics very relevant. Data from database are almost indisputable and are better perceived by people.

Frank - most of the indicators ARE gender (not only women! although the map doesn't give the figures for men that are in the other presentations), except in relation to violence/ "GBV" = VAW ... which is in fact closely linked to men & concepts of masculinity. The database also contributes to insights on men & timeuse, within the home - which is good.
It is in the analysis, not the database, that the emphasis often tends to be weak about men! (Although some of the profiles do sometimes mention gender gaps where men are falling below - e.g. in relation to higher education. And, as mentioned - the time indicator picks up gender roles, too.)

Karolina - I use a very wide range of sources for statistics (NSOs, IPU, Devnet, WB, Eurostat etc), but much of my work concerns non-EU countries! So EIGE has been less of a primary resource.

The challenges we face when using gender equality data in our policy documents relate to not always having accurate and reliable statistics. Additionally, often, available data are not collected in a way that will allow a trouble-free further statistical processing (e.g lack of disaggregation).

For our work at UNSD there is often many challenges collecting indicators from other regions and non-EU countries because of limited capacity and lack of resourcing for statistical collections. There maybe some global or region estimates that could be used for comparison purposes. However, this is probably beyond the scope of the EIGE database.

The frustrating part with statistics is that, although often the raw data could allow gender analysis, disaggregation is still not being undertaken systematically by those processing the data. It also infuriates me when the "gender" statistics treat the female and the male populations separately - so the presentation doesn't allow reliable comparison between women & men.

I would prefer newsletter and/or social media.

My preference for updates is newsletter, maybe with some examples of the type of questions the tool is being used to answer, or the types of charts that can be produced. Some explaination in a newsletter on how to use the breakdown chart type, or using the filters to customize charts would be great.

@Alexandrina Satnoianu we used the informations for a campaign named "why do we still need feminism in Romania (2016)". the statistics were relevant for the awarness-raise

Irina - a newsletter is the most accessible for me if just one needs to be selected; time often limits my opportunities to check in on various fora/ workspaces. But an "alert" when there's a specific development could be as valuable, while perhaps requiring less staff work time than a newsletter.

For anybody that wants to remain connected to the development of EIGE's Gender Statistics Database, please be informed that there is a virtual workspace on EuroGender and you can request to be members of - http://eurogender.eige.europa.eu/thematic-network-workspaces/workspace-e...

Downloading the data was easy. I like how there is an option to download in CSV so it can be input directly into a statistical analysis software package, although this can also be done using the excel file. When downloading the JPEG I think it's important to include the names of the variables too so that you don't have to go back to the website to check what you downloaded. The names are in abbreviated code form on the title but for someone who is not familiar with the names this makes it difficult to remember later on. I would have had to rename the file with the full names to make sure I remember what I downloaded.

I agree with Alexia - I try systematically to ensure that file names clearly indicate content!

Filtering is straightforward. The download system is good, wide options

downloading was easy, I like wide variety of data formats and charts. I would also like to know how does the breakdown chart work?

Thanks for the explaination on the breakdown diagram! I think I just had too many variables selected.

I think the different presentations are all user friendly (except the breakdown chart, which needs more explanation although it is perhaps the most visually striking AND shows several responses together - which I like more) - but for different uses, different audiences.

I'd like to thank Frank Elbers for the link to IMAGES - that will also be useful & I've bookmarked it

Sarah Simpson, hello all sorry I could not join you till now. I went online early this morning and followed some of the exercises but called away to other meetings and business. Just to say that I find the system relatively easy to use but need to read through today's discussions re any questions I have that might have been answered. Re the session for the first part of this afternoon I am really excited by the EIGE's Gender Statistics Database - I can use it quite a lot and it saves me trawling through Eurostat initially because you have everything in one place plus placeholders for other topics that interest me. THANK YOU EIGE! Also thank you for holding this seminar and sorry for not taking full advantage of today. I hope to participate more fully in future sessions, and will read through today's exchange and play some more with the system. Sarah, EquiACT

National and regional chambers of commerce could be good sources of this type of data on small enterprises.

Thanks Ligia and Karolina, I will do that - go through remaining tasks and see any difficulties.

Thank you for the session. Good afternoon to everyone

Is it possible to get the full transcript? There are many replies that went in later & are worth reading!

Thank you for a very interesting discussion

Thank you so much for joining us today! Your insights and recommendations are valuable input for us in order to keep EIGE's Gender Statistics Database an up-to-date, useful and relevant tool for its users. Have a nice evening everyone!

Hello! Nice to see all these posts, I hope I can add some valuable information of my own.

I seem to be very late to the discussion. I just wanted to share a lecture in which an esteemed professor summarizes some gender statistics and differences between men and women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXEHsYf8uQ

I am hoping that this information will aid policy makers who come up with different ways to teach boys and girls in our education system since it's clear that boys seem to want a more kinetic and competition orieanted approach. This is especially important since boys and young men have been falling behind women education wise for dozens of years and there has been no effort to make changes to the education system for this disparity to be fixed.

Different career choices between the sexes aren't a social construct but instead something biological as evidenced by Nordic countries where egalitarian principles have been enforced for a long time and has resulted in more women choosing professions classically associated with feminine traits and more men going for what is considered classically masculine. It would seem that if you remove all social pressures for the sexes to choose one profession or another, the biological differences between men and women actually magnify (since there are no other variables) and you have a society that is more divided than before. A paradox of equality policies.