Quantifying the World: UN Ideas and Statistics

Appendix:

273 Appendix: ILO Special Topics Measurement of Wage Differentials and Job Segregations The relative wage disadvantage of women in the labor market is a key characteristic that has received the attention of governments, scholars, and international organizations. The evident disadvantage might be explained by various productivity-related factors (such as age, hours worked, experience, education , training), but when the data are normalized for such effects it also appears that such differentials are due to gender discrimination. Identifying the causes of women’s wage disadvantage or explaining its pattern of change is one of the responsibilities of the ILO Bureau of Statistics. In reviewing equality for women in employment, the bureau has examined various methodologies to determine statistically the extent of gender wage-related differentials with the objective of defining “model” procedures that are simple to understand and easy to apply. These methodologies, so far, have not been explicitly described. A proposed technical manual on wages measurement designed to contain practical examples and case studies in this area has yet to be published but is eagerly awaited. Status of Children and Child Labor The world economic model not only overlooks the needs of women but also the plight of children and the aged who are cared for by them. An important outcome of the World Summit for Children held in New York in September  was recognition of the need to establish a proper database from which to monitor progress toward the achievement of the various international development goals declared. UNICEF thus set out to transform and improve the way the world collected and processed information on children (and women). It took steps to strengthen the vital database relating to their demographic characteristics to serve as a standard baseline for chronicling progress.UNICEF began to support new survey approaches and encourage specific efforts by governments to improve existing administrative reporting mechanisms. A Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) approach was developed for use in 274 Appendix conjunction with existing demographic and health surveys (DHS) in developing countries. These methods of inquiry have transformed the ability of many countries to capture what is happening to the social and economic condition of their women and children and to target their policies accordingly. These approaches, nevertheless, cannot identify all the various social and cultural factors that give rise to disparities in people’s well-being and to differences in their potential vulnerability to adverse circumstances. Their individual vulnerability to undesirable social conditions may be a legacy inherited from some past status or inexorably related to a personal characteristic such as caste or religion. The disaggregation of national averages relating to previously underrecorded local conditions associated with infection, bad sanitation ,impure water supply,inadequate shelter,and poor maternal care remains a statistical priority for policy makers. With such information governments will be better able to target specific groups and regions in special need of assistance. Despite an improved understanding of the issues, good policy is still inhibited by persistent gaps in knowledge governing the well-being of children and their families. One important area over which questions still hang in many low-income developing countries refers to the prevalence of mortality for children under the age of  classified by cause of death. This is because most countries’ vital registration systems either do not record such important information or because the children die from a combination of causes that usually include malnutrition as a fundamental factor. Often the real cause is not known or simply not diagnosed. The situation is similar in the case of reporting morbidity among young children, a difficult task in any circumstance , especially without recourse to proper diagnostic testing. In the case of both the death of young children and the diseases they possibly suffer from, culturalfactorsmayintervene,especiallyperhapsamonglesswell-educatedrural populations, to conceal the real truth about a condition or to prevent the reporting of how a child was “taken” from its family or the community. Elsewhere, the ILO has announced that the collection and dissemination of detailed statistics on child labor at the national, regional, and global levels will be kept on a special database and updated regularly as fresh statistical information becomes available. The idea is to use the data for in-depth analyses and studies relating to the nature and extent of child labor. Initially, what limited labor data that was available for children younger than  years of age were evaluated. Subsequently, through a special questionnaire addressed to more than  countries and territories, the ILO embarked on...