Gerry Brady, CSO Ireland
UNECE 26-28 April, 2010
Presented by Helen Cahill, CSO Ireland
Overview
 Gender and sex disaggregation of economic and social
statistics is reasonably well-developed
 This disaggregation is accepted as an essential view in
understanding the data, differences in the lives of men and
women, and in economic and social policy formulation
 Gender disaggregation of environmental data may in time
become just as important
 However people-oriented environmental indicators have
not yet been developed
 Hence we currently have a set of genderless environmental
statistics
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Need for environment gender view
 The behaviours and consumption of people are a
primary cause of environmental damage
 The decisions and behaviours of women and men may
have different impacts on the environment
 Men and women may respond differently to policies
addressing environmental concerns through
modifying their behaviour and consumption
 The black box of how men and women respond to
climate and environment concerns requires gender
disaggregated environmental statistics
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Example statistical areas of interest
 2009 Eurobarometer attitudes to climate change survey
 Personal consumption
 Transport
 Recycling
 Energy use
 Decision-making in industries using raw materials
 Decision-making in environmental policy areas
 Consequences of environmental damage on men and
women (water, food, living locations, income earning etc.)
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2009 Eurobarometer Survey
 A survey of Europeans’ attitudes towards most serious
problems facing our world today
 Climate change was ranked as the second most serious
problem by both men and women
 Survey looked at recycling, energy and water consumption
in the home, buying local produce to reduce transportation
requirement, car related activities, air transport, renewable
energy
 Survey identified differences in the attitudes and
behaviours of men and women
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Eurobarometer continued
 Women were generally more responsive to changing
their behaviours towards more environmentally
friendly practices
 e.g. 58% of women, who were taking personal action,
reduced home water consumption compared with 51%
of the men who were taking personal action
 Survey showed that it was possible to identify and
collect people-oriented environmental indicators
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Eurobarometer: Men/Women taking personal action
Persons taking personal action
% of men
% of women
Separating waste for recycling
Reducing consumption of energy at home
76%
61%
81%
66%
Reducing consumption of water at home
51%
58%
Reducing consumption of disposable items
38%
43%
Buying seasonal and local products
Environmentally friendly transport mode
26%
27%
32%
29%
Reducing use of their car
Purchasing a more environmentally friendly car
25%
24%
23%
17%
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Personal consumption
 Is there a significant difference in the impact on the
environment in the quantity and type of goods
consumed by men and women?
 Would require environment effect factors at detailed
product level (reflecting raw material composition of
products and usage effect on the environment)
 Could household purchase surveys be adapted to
collect some basic data on personal consumption and
green influences on which products to purchase ?
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Transport
 Data from the 2006 Census of Population in Ireland
showed that women are more likely to drive to work
 Men hold more than half of full driving licences in Ireland
 A detailed travel survey analysing mode of travel, vehicle
size and ownership, fuel consumption, purpose of
journeys, whether other passengers were carried etc. would
be very useful
 Data on travel/journey purposes from time use surveys may
also be useful e.g. to bring children to school
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Recycling and energy conservation
 Labour force survey module in Ireland in 2005 on
Recycling and Energy Conservation
 Women had higher rates of recycling products such as
paper, cans, plastic and clothing
 Recycling data suggested that behaviours of men who lived
alone were worse than if women also lived in the
household => more consistent behaviour of women
 There were smaller differences between men and women in
relation to energy conservation measures with women
more likely to be pro-active
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Single person households – recycling rates
Item recycled
Overall
Paper
Aluminium cans
Tin cans
Glass
Cardboard
Plastic
Clothing
% of men living
alone
69%
60%
60%
59%
57%
56%
45%
30%
% of women living
alone
82%
75%
72%
73%
69%
70%
57%
56%
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Single person households – energy conservation
Energy conservation % of men living
method
alone
Double glazing
62%
Lagging jacket
63%
Attic/roof insulation
56%
Draught stripping
42%
CFL light bulbs
22%
% of women
living alone
70%
73%
63%
45%
30%
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Going Forward
 Discussions needed regarding whether gender and
people dimensions should be mainstreamed into
environmental statistics
 Would require adding some new people related
environment indicators into existing international sets
 May require making changes to existing survey
methodologies
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Going forward (continued)
 This data would allow policy attempts to change
behaviour to focus more clearly on behaviours of
particular segments
 Alternative is environmental statistics unable to
distinguish socio-demographic including gender
differences in behaviour and responsiveness to
environmentally friendly practices
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