Consultation Responses and Parliamentary Briefings

Engender response to “Sex and Gender in Data: Collection and publication”; guidance from the Chief Statistician to Scottish Public Bodies

Feb 24, 2021: We welcome the opportunity to respond to this consultation by the Office of the Chief Statistician. A year ago, we submitted “Sex/gender: Gathering and using data to advance women’s equality and rights in Scotland” to the evidence-gathering phase of this work. In it, we outlined the urgent need for public bodies to collect, analyse, and use data to advance women’s equality and rights.

This need for better gender-sensitive sex-disaggregated data has only been further highlighted by Covid-19. In the early phases of the pandemic, which foreshadowed profoundly negative effects for women’s health, careers, and volume of unpaid care, Engender published our own calls to Scottish Government officials on using data about men’s and women’s distinct experiences in shaping its response to Covid-19.

We reiterate these calls here, and comment directly on the guidance from the Chief Statistician.

Date of publication: February 2021