Violence against women: where are the data gaps?

This blog, written by Wikigender Coordinator Estelle Loiseau, gives some highlights of the Wikigender online discussion on "Data Gaps on Gender Equality", which in its second week focused on violence against women (VAW).* 

The discussion continued last week on where has progress been made, where the gaps are and where improvements can be made in terms of data on violence against women (69 comments!) 

Here below are some highlights from the discussion. Please go to the discussion page for more details.

Where are some of the data gaps and issues ?

• There are many data gaps at sub-regional level
• There is a definition issue when collecting data: what is violence? it depends on the cultural context, especially when talking about "non-physical violence"
• The absence of reliable data is also political (it is a question of priority)

"Besides technical obstacles to scientific data collection, absence of (reliable) data is often political too: it can be an indicator that the issue is not considered a political priority. Despite the importance of (comparable) data to better understand the phenomenon and to provide evidence for legislative and politic responses, significant gaps remain - both at national and regional/international levels."

                                                              - Sarah Werner - The World Future Counci

What type of data do we need?

• We need to use attitudinal data, for example on adolescent girls' perceptions of sexual violence and harassment 
• We need more data on what kind of programmes are able to have an impact on life outcomes for girls
• We must continue to establish indicators based on administrative data (UNECE lead)
• We need to use statistical analysis that goes beyond simple descriptive analysis (e.g. logit models)
• Both administrative and survey data tell us important but different information on prevalence of violence estimates. They complement each other in that survey data gives the prevalence and incidence, while administrative data is important for the reporting of violence.

"I think we need to understand more about how adolescent women perceive sexual violence and harassment. I have a feeling that we do not enough, especially in light of new media and technology which allow new channels." 
                                                                                             - Sophie Walsh

Resources shared

• The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) will launch on 5th March the results of the first EU-wide prevalence study on violence against women
• PARIS21 shared some new guidelines on producing statistics on violence against women 
• Elizabeth Villagomez mentioned the International Social Survey Programme as an example of attitudinal data that can be used 
• Valerie Roberts shared information about their DFID Zambia Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme (AGEP) 
• Amber Peterman shared an article about a new study "Tip of the Iceberg: Reporting and Gender-Based Violence in Developing Countries"
• And many more!

"The FRA survey interviewed 42,000 women in the 28 EU Member States based on a representative, random sample of respondents. The survey will provide data on physical, sexual and psychological violence against women, sexual harassment and stalking."

                                                                                            - Sami Nevala - FRA

This third week (10-14 February), we turn the focus on data gaps in the area of women's civic and political participation. See the questions asked for the final week and join in the conversation!

*The discussion is brought to you by Wikigender, the UN Foundation, Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC), the EU-LAC Foundation, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), ECLAC and PARIS21 - and in collaboration with Wikiprogress and Wikichild.