Data sounded the alarm at UNGA 2023. Here’s how we can use it to identify and push forward solutions!

- Written by Amanda Austin, Head of Global Engagement?

The UN Secretary General’s announcement that just 15% of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets were on track to be achieved was stark – but no surprise to those of us who work on gender equality and the ‘leave no one behind’ agenda of the SDGs. Equal Measures 2030 joined UNDP, Save the Children, and the governments of Costa Rica and Colombia at an event during the SDG Action Weekend making just this case.?

So how can we use data not just to sound the alarm but to identify solutions????

First: Use data to think and analyse across sectors. ‘Multi-sectorality’ was a key buzzword at the SDG Summit discussions. That means we don’t just look at one goal (usually ‘SDG5’ for gender advocates): the SDG Gender Index from Equal Measures 2030 includes 56 indicators across 14 of the 17 SDGs in 144 countries (covering 98% of the world’s girls and women). The achievement of equality can only come if we look across issues – from tax to health to climate to trade to bodily autonomy and more – to gain insights into the lived realities of groups that have been left behind. ?

Second: Look beyond outcome indicators. Outcome indicators are incredibly important, but if we want to spot shifts (positive or negative!) quickly and identify solutions, then we need to look at legal, perceptions-based, and other contextual data too. For example, indicators related to laws (like legal access to abortion or equal rights to control land), women’s own perceptions (like feeling safe walking at night or food security), and contextual factors (like the extent to which women can openly discuss political issues in public or private spaces). These data – in tandem with insights from civil society actors closest to communities – can be a more immediate diagnostic tool.?

Third: See the big picture. We’re a long way off, from achieving gender equality globally, and the fatigue expressed by some governments on this theme is not justified by the data. In our last Index, 44 countries were either making no progress or moving in the wrong direction on gender equality; and this was before the full impacts of COVID-19 had been seen! The lack of discussion on gender equality so far in the planning for the 2024 Summit of the Future is a big concern. ?

Fourth: Civil society are important and powerful data users. EM2030 is a community of data connectors and users. We connect data to advocates, inside and outside government. Members of our coalition have used data alongside their own evidence and stories to name challenges but also to gain political leverage to help us reach solutions. A great example is GROOTS Kenya who have been using their county level dashboard (which builds on the SDG Gender Index and draws on the Kenya Population and Housing Census data) to directly influence energy policies and bills at the county level. ?

It’s true: the data tell us we’re not there yet. But at Equal Measures 2030 we’re energised every day by the changes we see when advocates – in and out of government – use powerful data to spotlight solutions and hold others to account. We can learn from their successes as we push for a gender equal future by 2030.?

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