[Index]
Accounting for women and men in national
statistics
Geneva, 25 October 2002
Identifying the different ways in which women and men experience day-to-day
life in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and North America,
the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, and a changing
world in general, was subject to discussion at a United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE) Work Session on Gender Statistics.
“The social position of men is four times better than that
of women in Spain”, concluded a recent time-use survey conducted by the Spanish
National Statistical Office. The study examines existing differences between
men and women in time use for personal needs, housework, education, paid work
and spare time. The survey echoed the conclusions of many studies at the meeting,
which show that although women and men are increasingly sharing household
and care work within the family, women tend to work considerably longer hours
than men when both paid and unpaid work is taken into account.
A paper presented by the Italian National Statistical Office,
outlined the ways in which the work of women in Italy has changed, focusing
on women entrepreneurs. The rate of increase in entrepreneurial activities
is currently higher for women than for men in Italy, with women owning 25%
of companies. A positive sign when it comes to issues of equal access of women
and men to economic opportunities and financial independence in Italy. Women-run
companies tend to be concentrated in areas such as textile, footwear and food
production; in service provision, and public concerns. For comparison, male
run companies tend to focus more on steel, electrical and mechanical manufacturing,
construction and automobile services.
But as Ms. Rina Camporese, a researcher at the Italian National
Statistical Office points out, this strong thrust towards entrepreneurial
activities by women in Italy also calls for increased pressure on women on
the labour market and in the private sphere. The study shows that women have
less time than men to attend to their enterprises due to workload at the home
and inside the family, resulting in a general trend of women-run companies
being smaller and less profitable than men’s. Women in Italy work on average
64 hours a week, while men work 54 hours, if household work and caring is
taken into account. Studies from other countries’ National Statistical Offices,
such as Canada, Sweden and Norway, also show this tendency of women’s participation
in the labour market resulting in more workload for women than men, when work
inside the home and family is taken into account. A general conclusion from
all the studies presented was that women also tend to have less access to
training, have less time for leisure and spend less time at work compared
to men, due to family and household responsibilities.
It is particularly in transition economies that economic
changes have had dramatic effects on gender equality over the last decade
or so. In formerly centrally planned economies such as in Poland, the entire
working-age population had access to employment and women often undertook
professional work supported by family benefits and public child-care. With
the transition to a market economy, women have taken over large burden of
adjustment on the labour market. According to a paper presented by Ms. Grazyna
Marciniak, from the Polish National Statistical Office, women in Poland have
had less access to employment opportunities and training than men since 1989,
and lack of child-care services has also limited women’s access to paid work.
Women in Poland generally have more education than men but receive on average
18% less wages than men and 50% of women older than 15 years old are economically
inactive.
As Ms. Ewa Ruminska-Zimny, the Regional Adviser on Gender
and Economy of the UNECE, pointed out “there were deep cuts in social spending
and gender concerns were out of the picture in macro-policies in countries
in transition. Fertility rate dropped to the lowest in the world in the transition
countries as a result of this.” Ms. Ruminska-Zimny further highlighted the
problem of defining gender as a purely social issue, while it has a highly
economical impact: “Several phenomena that have been considered as women’s
issues have a longstanding economic impact on society, for example the declining
fertility, lower economic activity rates of women while their education levels
are higher than men’s. These translate into decreasing labour force and an
increasing economic burden to support and provide services to the ageing population.
Today’s economy needs the economic efficiency that can be created with the
participation of men and women in the labour market.”
Participants at the conference discussed ways in which National
Statistical Offices and international organizations, such as the UN, can improve
their work to reflect more thoroughly on the different status of men and women
in the UNECE member countries. It was emphasised that gender analysis does
not concern only women but both women and men, and how the changes in society
have a different impact on them. There are areas where men are in more vulnerable
position, for example men’s life expectancy is considerably lower, in certain
areas their unemployment is higher, there are disadvantages in rights concerning
their children, etc. The Canadian Statistical Office highlighted the need
for more “gendered” statistics, which are not limited to measuring the status
of women as compared to men, but rather analyse the structural and societal
forces that shape the different status of women and men. Other recommendations
called for the collection of more social statistics in addition to the continuous
production of economic statistics, and that these would simultaneously reflect
the general realities of men and women.
For more information on gender statistics in UNECE, please
refer to:
http://www.unece.org/stats/gender/web
or contact:
Ms. Tiina Luige
UNECE Statistical Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +41(0)22 917 10 97
Fax: +41(0)22 917 00 40
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/STAT/02/08