Share this
To better understand the quality of the data available to measure gender equality, health equity and violence, the Lancet-SIGHT Commission undertook an in-depth investigation of 37 gender, health and violence indicators used to measure progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 5 and 16.
The Commission assessed each indicator against a common template to analyse the following:
- How the indicator is calculated;
- Sources for the indicator;
- Its utility, in other words what the indicator measures, what it does not measure;
- The availability of the indicator across time and geographic areas;
- The granularity of the indicator, in other words, if and how it is disaggregated by sex, age, identity group, citizenship etc.;
- Sources of bias, including if clear standards exist for the indicator and if its reliability is widely accepted; and,
- The degree to which the indicator is an actual value or an imputed/modelled value.
Through this process, the Commission documented key data shortfalls, including the lack of disaggregation at the subnational level, by sex and gender, by income and other forms of identity. The templates also document potential sources of bias. The Commission’s analysis also showed a clear lack of transparency on the methods for estimating data, including the failure to include uncertainty bounds. The indicator analysis highlighted both the reliance on estimation or modelling of data, as well as the failure to accurately report confidence intervals for modelled values.
To increase the quality of data interpretation in research and policy, the Lancet-SIGHT Commission has developed the following 37 indicator templates that outline the strengths and limitations of relevant health and gender indicators:
- Adolescent birth rate
- Atrocities
- Coverage of essential health services
- Death rate due to road traffic injuries
- Disability adjusted life years (DALY)
- Existence of legal frameworks to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex
- Female employment
- Female life expectancy
- Female primary school enrollment
- Fertility rate
- Gender inequality index
- Health worker density and distribution
- HIV incidence rate
- Homicides
- Infant mortality rate
- Laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive healthcare, information and education
- Malaria incidence
- Maternal mortality ratio
- Mean years of schooling (female)
- Organized violence
- Percentage of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment
- Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
- Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis
- Proportion of population subjected to physical violence, psychological violence and sexual violence in the previous 12 months
- Proportion of population with large household expenditure on health as share of total household expenditure
- Proportion of seats held by women in local government
- Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments
- Proportion of victims of violence in the previous 12 months who reported to authorities
- Proportion of women aged 15–49 who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive healthcare
- Proportion of women aged 20–24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18
- Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner
- Proportion of women and girls subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months
- Proportion of women of reproductive age (15–49) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods
- Proportion of women who own a mobile phone
- Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18
- Reported treatment coverage for alcohol and drug dependence
- Sexual violence during conflict
These indicators were initially analyzed by graduate students at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. Francois Daudelin completed this analysis and finalized these templates. This work was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
For questions, comments and suggestions, please contact François Daudelin 13fd9@queensu.ca or or Sara Fewer sara.fewer@kva.se.
