What is the APEC Guide on Collection and Use of Sex Disaggregated Data

This guide stands as an adjunct to the APEC Guide for Gender Analysis. The process outlined in the Guide for Gender Analysis includes consideration of when and how to use sex-disaggregated data. This guide does not provide further steps to carry out the process. Instead it is a resource guide to highlight what sex-disaggregated data is useful, and where to get further information or training. There are a number of good publications available to assist APEC fora and member economies to improve their collection of sex disaggregated data and which illustrate standards and best practices. These are listed in the reference section.

Why an APEC Guide on collection and use of sex-disaggregated data

Sex disaggregated data is an essential input into gender analysis and the understanding of the different economic contributions, circumstances and realities of women and men. Sex-disaggregated data can provide information about how much women contribute to all aspects of society and economic activity in both their paid and unpaid capacities. Using sex disaggregated data can help APEC fora to decide on and carry out activities that are effective, equitable and beneficial for women and men, as well as their economies, and so gain the most benefit from their work.

Sex-disaggregated data can be used to:

• identify the different situation of women and men, including changes over time;
• consider the impact APEC activities will have on both women and men, and track the impact they do have;
• identify and define problems, develop options and choose the option which will be most effective and beneficial for both women and men;
• more fully understand the impact of events such as the regional economic crisis on women, and hence assist in formulating activities in response to the events;
• allocate resources and effort in a more equitable fashion;
• evaluate and monitor results and outcomes by sex.
• show progress or lack thereof of women using indicators and regular data publications.

More equitable results are likely when gender analysis using sex-disaggregated data is carried out. Economies, businesses and people all benefit when the range of women's current and potential input to economic progress is known and used in decision making.

What different types of data are useful?

Sex-disaggregated data means any data that is cross-classified by sex; that is presented separately for women and men, girls and boys.

Different types of sex-disaggregated data are useful for different purposes.

Gender indicators are specific statistics or other forms of evidence selected and presented to show the relative position of women and men in respect to goals, values or aims of specific activities. They are particularly useful for evaluating progress. They can be based on any type of data.

Cross-sectional data is collected at one point in time from a census or survey of the population. Cross-sectional data that measures the current situation for all subgroups of the population is most useful for establishing the current situation for women and men, hence identifying current needs.

Time series data is collected at different points in time. A time series shows the changing pattern over time for the population as a whole or for subgroups of the population. A major use of time series data is to show macro-economic trends, such as the growth of Gross Domestic Product. It could be used, for example, to look at the changing pattern of participation in education in relationship to macroeconomic changes. Care needs to be taken with time series data to ensure that users do not draw inappropriate conclusions about relationships between variables.

Longitudinal data is collected from units (individuals, firms or establishments) at one point in time, followed by repeat surveying of the same units. Such data from individuals is needed, for example, to study areas such as lifetime earnings and ability to save for retirement, the impact of having children on women's paid and unpaid work, or the long-term effects of a particular policy.

Cross-sectional, time series, and longitudinal data are all types of quantitative data. They are data that can be appropriately expressed in numbers.

Qualitative data, in contrast, relates to information that is often not appropriate to express in numbers. The researcher using such data is usually seeking to gain new understanding of a situation, experience or process by, for example, learning from detailed accounts that people give in their own words. Although non-numerical, qualitative data has its own structures and analytical methods. It is incorrect to apply a sampling logic to qualitative research data, as its collection methodology is not dependant on probability theory. Such information can be useful to understand factors making a difference to individuals in, for example, their ability to work in the paid labour force. Qualitative data may be particularly useful in the area of small business development to identify barriers to women. For example, qualitative interviews could be carried out with women running successful businesses to identify factors that contribute to success.

What data is relevant to the APEC priority areas?

• Sex-disaggregated data is relevant in all APEC priority areas. The following are selected examples of useful sex disaggregated data in APEC priority areas.
  • Trade and investment liberalisation

    Trade liberalisation affects people and businesses across the board: those involved in exporting, importing, manufacturing for domestic markets and consumers both of raw products, machinery and goods for final consumption. The issues for women and men arise from their different roles and participation in each of these areas. These different roles cannot be analysed and the impacts assessed without data disaggregated by sex. Some examples of useful data would include the number of women and men involved in exporting by industry.

  • Business facilitation

    Women and men can face different problems in compliance with regulation (such as difficulty in assessing information which is being made available mainly through men's organisations). Information needed to facilitate business operations, such as information on barriers to exporting or barriers to expanding businesses, needs to be disaggregated by sex.

  • Developing human capital

    Women and men have quite different patterns of education and labour market participation. Human capital development can only be effective if these differences are known and activities appropriately designed for both sexes

    Useful data includes labour market activity and unpaid work by sex, such as women's and men's working conditions, occupational segregation, wages, productivity, career opportunities etc, basic data on education participation, and achievement at all levels, by sex.
    Such data will be useful in identifying where HRD interventions are needed.

    The Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) Labour Market Information database has some data disaggregated by sex. The HRDWG, ISTWG, SMEPLG and TPT-WG conducted projects in which data has been collected on women.

  • Fostering safe, efficient capital markets

    Women can find finance much more difficult to access because they may have less direct ownership of assets. Women investors may have different views on what constitutes a safe investment and where they are prepared to put their capital. Useful data includes data on access to finance, size of loans, by sex.

  • Strengthening economic infrastructure;

    The economic infrastructure affects women and men as consumers, workers, business owners and investors. Any work on the economic infrastructure would need to consider the different roles and uses of the infrastructure to enable developments to be effective for all. As this area is so wide ranging, some examples only are given of where sex-disaggregated data could be used. Useful data could include sex disaggregated data on the use of different forms of transport, data on the demand for access to telecommunication facilities and reasons for it, data on the impact of tourism and the contribution of women and men to the tourism industry. Qualitative as well as quantitative information would be useful in many areas.

  • Harnessing technologies for the future

    Useful data could include data on participation in science and technological training, by level and sex, data on use and access to new technology within businesses by sex.

    The Ad Hoc Group on Gender, Science and Technology of the Industrial, Science and Technology Working Group (ISTWG) held an Expert Group Meeting on Gender, Science and Technology in 1998, focussed on sex disaggregated data in science and technology. The ISTWG is also collecting descriptive data from all approved projects to identify the number of women and men participating.

  • Promoting environmentally sustainable development

    Women in the home have different experiences of environmental impact, and can contribute practical information such as how to improve energy efficiency among small scale consumers. Useful data could include information on energy use by sector, and sex of users; on women and men working in industries that are the focus of development projects, and in industries dependent on these.

  • Encouraging the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises

    Women in the home have different experiences of environmental impact, and can contribute practical information such as how to improve energy efficiency among small scale consumers. Useful data could include information on energy use by sector, and sex of users; on women and men working in industries that are the focus of development projects, and in industries dependent on these.

Data on women in the APEC region

Basic sex-disaggregation of economic and social data such as economic growth, labour market activity at all levels and educational participation is essential to monitor economic and social progress in the APEC region and identify problems and future priorities.

For example, data to support the analysis of the impact of women on trade, and the impact of trade on women is needed. Sex-disaggregated data on formal and informal employment, sex-disaggregated data on internal migration, and on changing incomes of households and sex-disaggregated information on changes in household composition could help illuminate the impact of the regional financial crisis on women and men. This would help answer questions such as have men or women been more affected by changes in the formal and informal labour market? How has this affected their families? What were flow on effect on women and men in rural communities? Were would recovery programs be most effectively targeted?

Effective use of data

Effective use of data is important for gender analysis and project success. Data can be used more effectively where:

• sex-disaggregated data is widely available, through tables in publications and electronic forms;
• the data used is appropriate and relevant, and its strengths and weaknesses are well documented and understood;
• users are trained in gender awareness in data analysis and interpretation;
• users have skills in data presentation.

There are a number of publications available to assist economies to improve their collection and use of sex disaggregated data, standards and best practices.

Resource List

• Materials available to assist readers to collect appropriate data and improve the quality of existing data.
• Tony Beck and Morton Stelcner (1997) Guide to Gender-Sensitive Indicators, Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA)
  website: http://www.acdi-cida.ca/agency-e.htm
• Birgitta Hedman, Francesca Perucci, Pehr Sundstrom (1996). Engendering Statistics - A Tool for Change, Statistics Sweden Publications Services
  website: http://www.scb.se/indexeng.htm
• United Nation (1997) Handbook for Producing National Statistical Reports on Women and Men, Sales No E.97.XVII.10.
  website: http://www.un.org/
• Leroy Stone, Zeynep Karmen, W.Pamela Yaremko (eds) (1999) Gender Equality Indicators: Public Concerns and Public Policies Status of Women Canada.
  Website: http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/publish/text.html
• The following web-site has information or references which may be helpful
• http://www.ids.ac.uk/eldis/stats/gen_stam.html This website, compiled by Sussex University in the UK, contains a good list of references on the topic "Statistical methodologies for the collection, analysis and presentation of gender- disaggregated data" although it does not have many recent references.
• References containing sex-disaggregated statistics on the APEC region
• United Nations (1997) Wistat Women's Indicators and Statistics Database Sales No.E.96.XVII.14
• United Nations (1997) The World's Women 1995: Trends and Statistics. Sales No. E.95.XVII.2.
• United Nations (1998) Women and Men in the ESCAP region. Sales No E99.II.F.3
• World Bank Gender Net - country level data disaggregated by sex drawn from the World Development Indicators (WDI)
  http://www.worldbank.org/gender/

Training Resources

• Material available to assist with training, or developing training courses on sex-disaggregated data
• Training Users and Producers in Statistics, United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), 1995.
  website: http://www.un.org/instraw/
• Engendering Statistics - A Tool for Change. Birgitta Hedman, Francesca Perucci, Pehr Sundstrom, Statistics Sweden 1996. Website: http://www.scb.se/indexeng.htm
• There are a number of reports available on training courses that contain useful material. For example:
• Training Users and Producers of Statistics on Gender Issues in the South Pacific, Report of the Seminar held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 1992, INSTRAW, 1995
  Organisations which may be able to provide training or advisory services
• INSTRAW (The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women)
  http://www.un.org/instraw/
• ESCAP (The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)
  http://unescap.org/
• ESCAP Committee on Statistics
  http://unescap.org/stat/role-rc.htm
• SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community)
  http://www.spec.org.nc/En/statistics.htm