11 October 2016: The UN stressed the need for more and better data to ensure that no girls are left behind in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in messages on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child. Also on gender equality, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) held its annual debate on the advancement of women.

The International Day, marked on 11 October, focused on the theme, ‘Girls’ Progress=Goals’ Progress: A Global Data Movement,’ and included events focused on how gaps in data on girls and young women, as well as lack of systematic analysis and data, limit the world’s ability to monitor and communicate progress on half of humanity. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled that the 2030 Agenda commits to “ending discrimination and violence against girls and harmful practices like child marriages” and promoting girls’ quality education and health services. He stressed, however, that “what cannot be measured cannot be managed. If we do not gather the data we need, we will never know if we are delivering on our promises.” Ban underscored the importance of timely, high-quality data to identify both advancements and areas “where we are falling behind.”

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka also stressed the importance of “accurate, reliable, transparent and comparable gender data” to ensure progress for girls. She highlighted UN Women’s efforts to collect such information and build an integrated evidence-base to help remove structural barriers for girls and women, including by launching a public-private initiative, ‘Making Every Woman and Girl Count.’

The five-year initiative aims to increase the production of gender-sensitive data and provide results to track progress towards goals, shape policies and program decisions and increase accountabilities. Through the initiative, Mlambo Ngcuka said, UN Women and its partners are “supporting countries to strengthen their national capacity and systems to collect, analyze and disseminate gender data to improve statistics on priority issues for girls” and track progress on SDG implementation. According to the UN, fewer than 50 countries are able to provide data disaggregated by age and sex and data gaps exist on poverty, adolescent maternal deaths and other challenges, resulting in these challenges being under-addressed.

The UN also notes that the world currently lacks adequate information on 80% of the indicators to monitor gender-specific elements of the SDGs, primarily as a result of failing to prioritize gender equality in data collection. Mlambo Ngcuka said that, out of US$131 million committed to statistical capacity-building for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC), only two percent is dedicated to projects on gender equality.

In his statement on the Day, UN Populations Fund (UNFPA) Executive Secretary Babatunde Osotimehin called for data that can “make the lives of every girl, in every setting, visible and accessible.” He said this will allow policymakers, communities, civil society organizations, youth-led groups, activists and girls themselves to shape policies and initiatives to “positively affect the lives of millions of girls around the world.” The UN Development Programme (UNDP) showcased its new Youth Global Programme for Sustainable Development and Peace, which focuses on increasing investments to empower young women, among other objectives.

The UNGA’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) addressed the advancement of women in its annual debate, on 10-11 October 2016. Speakers highlighted the importance of ensuring equal participation of women and men and maintaining a human-rights based approach. Dubravka Šimonović, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, informed the Committee that she is assessing the potential need for a legally binding treaty on violence against women, and welcomed inputs from Member States on it.

Many speakers shared their national actions to promote gender equality in line with commitments under SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls). Highlighted actions included: policies to promote equal participation in labor (Bulgaria); women-friendly labor laws (Qatar); and promotion of women’s entrepreneurship (Burkina Faso). Speakers at the debate supported: mainstreaming gender into the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies; promoting gender-responsive budgeting and female participation in politics; changing the perception of women’s strength in society; adopting gender-responsive policies to address large-scale population movements; ending violence against women. [International Day Website] [UN Secretary-General Message] [UN Women Executive Director Statement] [UN Women Press Release on Making Every Woman and Girl Count] [Third Committee Summary, 10 October] [Third Committee Summary, 11 October] [Report of Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences]