• Using indicators for policy making

Using indicators for policy making

This reference manual is designed to assist the user in the selection, use and dissemination of gender-sensitive indicators at the national level. It aims to strike a balance between discussion of theoretical concepts and practical examples.

The manual presents four case studies of good practice in the use of gender-sensitive indicators, in three Commonwealth countries (Canada, Ghana and India) and one non-Commonwealth country (the Philippines). The four case studies evidence a variety of experiences with the use, analysis and dissemination of gender-sensitive indicators.

The gender-sensitive indicators discussed in this manual are classified into ten groups:

• Population composition and change
• Human settlements and geographical distribution
• Households and families, marital status, fertility
• Learning in formal and non-formal education
• Health, health services, nutrition
• Economic activity and labour force participation
• Access to land, equipment and credit
• Legal rights and political power
• Violence against women
• Macroeconomic policy and gender

The manual notes the following limitations of the gender-sensitive indicators:

• they do not provide information on wider social patterns;
• most indicator systems are developed from national censuses. However, much of the data in national censuses is subject to various problems, including infrequent collection, sex bias, poor enumeration, and imprecise definition of key terms.
• because of differences in definitions of terminology between nations, indicators are often not comparable internationally.

A key element in the use of indicators is to interpret correctly the normative element that is inherent in their construction. The same indicator may be interpreted differently in different settings. For example, a falling birth rate may be considered a positive trend in a densely populated country, but a negative trend in a sparsely populated country. Care must therefore be taken in defining the norm or benchmark implicit in any
indicator and against which change is measured.

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