Gender Data Powering Public Policy

The Permanent Missions of Canada and Kenya to the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme Gender Equality in Public Administration Global Initiative, the Wilson Center’s Women in Public Service Project, and McKinsey & Company held a panel conversation about the data-driven solutions bringing us closer to women’s leadership and gender equality in public institutions around the world. 

Opening Remarks

Ms. Lakshmi Puri
Deputy Executive Director, UN Women

H.E. Mrs. Koki Muli Grignon
Deputy Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations

H.E. Ms. Louise Blais
Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

Speakers

Ms. Kweilin Ellingrud
Partner, McKinsey & Company and Co-Author, “The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth”

Ms. Gwen K. Young
Director, Global Women's Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project, The Wilson Center

Key Quotes:

Gwen K. Young, Director, Global Women's Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project, The Wilson Center

"The Leadership Index tells us where we are today: the pathways women take to leadership, the positions they holde, and the poewr they have once they get there. The Leadership Index also tells us where we need to go by identifying barriers to leadershpi as well as critical gaps in the data that must be addressed to accelerate global progress toward parity."

Patrick Keuleers UNDP Director/Chief of Profession, Governance and Peacebuilding

“Our initial studies on women’s representation and leadership in government agencies across a diverse group of pilot countries resulted in two main conclusions. First, that women are severely underrepresented at decision-making levels of the public administration. And second, that the data that would allow us to paint a full picture of where and to what extent women are absent in leadership positions are missing.”

Lakshmi Puri, UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships Bureau

“We need to prioritize data- solid disaggregated data- and efforts that put information into effective and strategic use.”

H. E. Mrs. Koki Muli Grignon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations

“There is need to document and track progress made in the realization of this commitment and the implementations of the policies and programs aimed at achieving gender parity, gender equality, and women’s empowerment in Kenya. Of course, this is where data is critical”

H.E. Louise Blais, Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

"We need to make sure that you segregate the data when you're looking at development programs abroad. You need to understand the role of women, the impact on women, in order to make sure that you deliver the kinds of solutions and support that are needed."

Ms. Kweilin Ellingrud, Partner, McKinsey & Company and Co-Author, "The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women's Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth"

"Companies in the top quartile of diversity, if you were gender diverse, you were actually 15% more likely within an industry to outperform your peers. . ."

Photo: UN Women via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)