The OECD Dashboard on Gender Gaps contains “high-quality” indicators, which is taken to mean that each indicator must ideally fulfil the following conditions:
- Consistency: data points for each country should be compiled based on comparable definitions and data collection methods, ideally from existing datasets.
- Coverage: data should ideally be available for each OECD country, but mindful of data limitations in some areas and in some countries, indicators should be available for at least 80% of OECD members, i.e. 30 countries in 2025.
- Progress: In order to measure progress over time, data should be available on a regular – ideally, annual, basis. Data collection methods do not always allow for this, such as with OECD PIAAC and OECD PISA results (updated every 3 years) or indicators based on census data or time-use surveys (frequently updated every 5 or 10 years).
A rigid adherence to the data-quality criterion would miss out on two issues that are considered as paramount in the gender equality discussion, specifically, “Violence against women” and “Unpaid work”. For these two issues, the data-quality criterion was relaxed.