Noni, Norazlinah and Dr Rashidah with the participants of the round-table discussion on sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis matters in advancing gender inclusion at Hilton Hotel yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Women’s Advisory Council (MPWS) has called upon the state government to immediately start collecting sex-disaggregated data in its departments without waiting for a policy to be made.
Its chairperson, Datuk Noni Mohd Said said sex-disaggregated data collection can be done under administrative instructions by the state secretary.
“We must be firm in this matter, because data and information with gender perspective is important as a basic reference in formulating policies and making decision.
“Accurate data and information not only facilitates planning and implementation of certain policies, but will definitely impact national development,” she said.
According to Noni, the demand in collecting data with gender perspective has been voiced out by the council for so long, but there are some issues and challenges making it difficult to be implemented.
In MPWS, Noni said the council has a data collection platform called WISE, where it can be developed once the government and private sector start to channel their data.
She said this yesterday during the round-table discussion on sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis matters in advancing gender inclusion, at Hilton Hotel.
Noni further stressed that with the input they gathered from the closed-door discussion, immediate action must be done and it can start with the administrative instruction from the state government.
The closing ceremony was officiated by Health and People’s Wellbeing assistant minister, Norazlinah Arif.
In her speech, Norazlinah said sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis is important to help the government in making the right decision to empower women.
“Every time we want to propose something focusing on women development, accurate data has always been the problem.
“We don’t have the numbers, we don’t have any information of how many women are working in which sectors, and we also don’t have accurate number of women in the informal workforce. We need it as soon as possible.
“With this round-table discussion, I am hoping that we can start something. However, women need to be prepared. If the numbers are there, and when opportunities are knocking on your door, make sure someone is answering it,” she added.
An expert consultant on gender from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Datuk Professor Dr Rashidah Shuib was invited to be part of the programme.
She said the purpose of the implementation of sex-disaggregated data is simply to collect any data on individuals, broke down by sex – male and female.
From the round table discussion, she said it is crucial for Sabah to collect data on women in the workforce, and also those who are not working formally.
Even in politics, she said Sabah does not have any effort to collect sex-disaggregated data, which might contribute to the low participation of women in the political landscape.
“It has been an ongoing struggle for 30 percent women participation in every level, but since we don’t have the data, how are we going to achieve it?
“Data is important so that we can see the weakness, and from that weakness we can find a solution to make it better,” she added.
Participants of the programme were from government departments and agencies, as well as NGOs.