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Supporting Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs through a leaflet on gender statistics

Ms. Takahashi, a researcher at NWEC, was invited to Cambodia as a short-term JICA specialist from February 22~28, 2009 to renew their statistics leaflet and popularize gender statistics. In the background to this invitation lies the Project on Gender Mainstreaming and Policy Development through Upgrading Information and Research Capacity (PGM) that JICA commissioned NWEC to conduct for ministerial officials from Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs from FY2004~2007. As part of their training in gender statistics, trainees examined the content and quality of as many Cambodian government statistics as they could obtain, analyzed the values from a gender-sensitive perspective, compiled diagrams and text, and created a leaflet and booklet about gender statistics.
On this visit, Ms. Takahashi incorporated the latest values available as of February 2009 into the leaflet made on the previous occasion, and amended the text. She also conducted a workshop for new officials to facilitate their understanding of the characteristics and usefulness of gender statistics.

The workshop on gender statistics for junior officials from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs
The workshop on gender statistics for junior officials from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs		 The Vice-Minister of Women’s Affairs with other concerned individuals
The Vice-Minister of Women’s Affairs with other concerned individuals		 The leaflet (far left) and booklet (2nd from left) compiled during training in Japan
The leaflet (far left) and booklet (2nd from left) compiled during training in Japan

The Cambodian government conducted a national census last year with the support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, and is gradually putting together some government statistics. They have also taken measures such as the inclusion of a gender category in survey slips at the suggestion of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and have begun to incorporate gender perspectives at the production stage of statistics. Cambodian ministerial officials are getting to grips with how to interpret figures on their own as well as how to produce leaflets and booklets. Dr. Headman of Statistics Sweden (SCB) says that statistics can be the “tools of change” for advancing gender equality, but for officials at Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the acquisition of gender statistics as a tool has given them power.

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