By Kidega Livingstone
United Nations Women (UN Women) in South Sudan asks the government to have proper statistics and data on women and girls (gender statistics).
The UN Women and other development partners formed what they described as a “Gender Statistics Group,” where they shared information on statistics and data on women and girls in the area of crime and gender-based violence-related issues across the continent.
Deputy Country Representative for UN Women in South Sudan, Rukaya Mohammed, said data on women and girls will help the government and international communities come up with policy programmes that support them.
“If you don’t have the data, you cannot have policies programmed. We can assure you of UN Women’s support for gender statistics, and we shall continue to support the government for that matter, Rukaya said during the reception of the newly appointed Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.
“We have collectively formed a gender statistic group, and we are really looking forward to working together for women’s and girls’ rights,” she added.
She called on the newly appointed Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, Augustino Ting Mayai, to focus on gender statistics in order to have proper statistics and data on women and girls in the country.
For his part, Managing Director of Equity Bank South Sudan, Dr. Addis Ababa Othow, said that the South Sudan economy is moving towards a difficult transformation that needs data.
He said United Nations agencies, including UN Women, the private sector, and financial institutions, all need the data for proper planning.
The UN Women comes with a report called “Gender Snapshot 2023 on Sustainable Development Goal” that warns that more than 340 million women and girls globally will live in extreme poverty by 2030.
It is further warned that the gender gap in power and leadership positions will remain entrenched, and the next generation of women will still spend on average 2.3 more hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work than men if the current trends continue.