As investments in strengthening gender data systems grow, so too has the pressure to document how these influence gender equitable change. As a result, international efforts to enhance gender data use have multiplied, through new guidelines, capacity building, and awareness-raising initiatives. While these efforts can play an important role in enhancing use, without first investing in understanding the dynamics of gender data use in practice, their impact is limited.
To bridge this global knowledge gap, PARIS21 has partnered with national statistical offices and national gender machinery in Rwanda, Maldives, Dominican Republic, and Kenya to ask: What are the determinants of gender data use in policy making? The studies traced the use of gender data in a selection of policy cases spanning across sectors at national and sub-national level. Findings revealed both country-specific barriers and enablers of gender data use, as well as several key, common insights from across the four countries. These findings provide an important foundation for country-led action and development interventions.
This lighting session aims to share just four key global messages from the country studies, in turn stimulating a more intentional approach to interventions supporting use and stimulating further research in the area. Crucially, the session moves beyond conceptual models of the journey from data production to use, situating this journey within the wider socio-political context. PARIS21 raises key questions such as how contextual factors can shape decisions on data production, dissemination, and use; which skills are conducive to gender data use in policy making; and which actors are best positioned to contribute these skills. By unpacking these fundamental questions on use, PARIS21 offers a glimpse inside the black box of how gender data is transformed to use.
