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Missing links between gender,
economy and statistics
Ewa Ruminska-Zimny, UNECE
Conference of European Statisticians
Group of Experts on Gender Statistics
Geneva, 11-13 September 2006
Gender equality as an economic
issue

Feminist economists: taking the lead and
providing a framework
 Catching-up by “hard core” economists: women’s
employment as an engine of GDP growth - The
Economist April 2006)
 Private sector interest - Davos Forum (links GDP
and gender equality)
 Policy issues: male breadwinner bias; double
earner/ double burden family model
Why?
 Pressure
of globalization for diversity,
flexibility and best use of resources
 Ageing and lower fertility: worries of A.
Merkel and V. Putin
 More competitive while maintaining social
coherence (Lisbon Strategy)
 Loss of women’s economic potential in EE
and especially CIS (lower participation,
moving to lower paid jobs)
How to engender economic policymaking?

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More awareness of economic ministries that
gender equality pays off
Arguments/evidence: key role of data and gender
analysis
Concepts and tools in various policy areas (e.g.
budgetary and SME policies)
Political support and mechanisms to include
gender into economic strategies
Nordic countries the most competitive and most
equal: is there a link?
Measuring women’s contribution
to competitiveness and growth

Unpaid work - a key issue
 Paid work: contribution to quantitative (e.g.
participation rates) and qualitative growth factors
(e.g. education and skills, incl. life-long learning)
 But also measuring optimal use of women’s
economic potential (management jobs;
entrepreneurship but also value of diversity,
flexibility etc)
Gaps and challenges for data
producers

Engendering macro-economic data (public
expenditure and budgetary data)
 Social security statistics (sex disaggregated data of
beneficiaries of parental leaves, costs of child care
services, care services for elderly, pensions)
 Improvement in employment data (wages,
informal sector, self-employment, part-time)
 Economic decision making (public administration,
banks and financial sector, top/senior management
companies, economic think-tanks/research)
Specific challenges for Central
Asia, south Caucasus & other CIS
Poverty and women’s incomes (wages from
formal, informal, and self-employment plus social
transfers)
 Situation of rural women and regional differences
 Gender analysis of public expenditure and budgets
 ICT and new opportunities - is there a gender
bias?

ECE as a platform for raising
awareness of economic policy
makers

Beijing +10 review and recommendations
 New sub-programme on promoting countries’
competitiveness and innovation
 SPECA and WG on Gender and Economy for
Central Asia and South Caucasus
 New DA project on region specific MDGs
indicators
DA Project on region-specific MDG
indicators
 Project
objective: strengthening social
inclusion, gender equality and health
promotion
 Expected output: identification of additional
MDG targets and indicators adopted by for
policy-makers; MDG knowledge-hub
 Focus: economic aspects of gender equality
in Central Asia and South Caucasus
Conclusions
Data which “fit” the demand of policy makers is a
key to have an impact on economic policy
 Knowledge of gender aspects of economic policies
is essential (part of training programs)
 As well as knowledge of priority issues and
agenda at regional/national levels is necessary for
data improvement
 ECE is a “natural” platform to strengthen the links
between gender, economy and statistics at regional
and sub-regional levels

Thank you!
Ewa Ruminska-Zimny
UNECE Gender Focal Point
Office of the Executive Secretary
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.unece.org/oes/gender/Welcome.html