Group to Generate Statistics on Gender

Group to Generate Statistics on Gender
The Ghanaian Times, Thursday February 18, 2010; Page 16
Edmund Mingle & Benjamin Sekyere Owusu

A Gender Statistics Working Group (GSWG), a group of gender development experts working to enhance statistical data on gender, was launched in Accra with a call for the provision of accurate data on gender.

The GSWG, an initiative of the Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with the United Nations Developmental Fund for Women is aimed at facilitating the development of statistical data to aid effective planning for the growth of both the male and female gender.

The launch which was also to kick-start the meeting of the group had the theme, “Gender mainstreaming for equitable development,” Dr. Grace Bediako, Government Statistician in her address, called for improvement in the development and use of statistics on the gender in the country was not impressive.

That, she said, was affecting the implementation of national planning programs, especially those relating to poverty alleviation, since the present data on women and children was not adequate.
Even with the existing data, she said not much was being used for the development of women and children saying there was the need to maximize the use of data.

“We must make headway” she stressed, adding that without that, the objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action would not be attained in Ghana.

Ms Diana Tempelman, Regional Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization in her keynote address, lauded the formation of the group indicating that without accurate data three would not be effective planning for gender development. “This is the ground breaking event in the area of gender data development," she said.

Describing the work of the group as an absolute necessity for gender planning, Ms Templeman was hopeful that the provision of accurate data would enhance Ghana’s attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

Mrs. Benedicta Kwame, Chief Economic Planning Officer at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, launching the initiative, urge all stakeholders to be committed and effectively contributed to towards achieving the objectives of the GSWG.

The members of the GSWG are drawn from the academia, government ministries, civil society groups security agencies and international development agencies.