Statistical Terms Glossary

Aspect of any issue which relates to equality, such as sex, gender, age, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Achievement of equality in the broader, more results-oriented, redistributive sense, based on the insight that equality of opportunity and equal treatment may not be enough to redress the historical oppression and disadvantage of women.

The absence of avoidable or remediable differences among populations or groups defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically.

Deliberate, organized, and usually violent expulsion of people from an area on the basis of their perceived ethnic, communal, sectarian, or religious identity.

The systematic collection and analysis of data on a program, both as to the process and outputs (materials and activities) and the impact or outcome (immediate and longer term effects).

Unfair, if not illegal, treatment or use of somebody or something usually for personal gain.

Misdemeanor committed by a person appealing to a minor, exciting him/her desires and inclinations and thus exploits his/her weakness/destitution.

An investigation of a dispute by an impartial third party that examines the issues and facts in the case and may issue a report and recommended settlement (for example, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia established by the Council of the European Union).

A family is a group of two or more individuals related by birth or marriage and residing together (US Census Bureau, 2010). People who are not relatives are not considered within the family even if they lived in the same household. Household residents or members include servants, or domestic workers, while family members are those people, who are interlinked by blood or marriage; the scope of the family can go beyond the scope of the house.

Provision of public, private, individual or collective services to meet the needs of parents and children or members of the immediate family.

Right to leave for family reasons, which may or may not be shared between the parents.

Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility. A woman’s ability to space and limit her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and well-being as well as on the outcome of each pregnancy.[WHO]

Care of, and support for, dependent children and other members of the immediate family who need help.

The intentional abuse among individuals where significant others are part of the family and/or are fulfilling the function of family, in order to gain power and control over the victim. It includes spousal violence, intimate partner violence, violence between parents and children, siblings, spouses and in laws. Examples include preventing a spouse from access to food, water, shelter or clothing, forced abortion, spousal abuse for not doing what is expected by the husband, such as being late in preparing food, or beating of the wife by her mother in law.

Biologically based references to the sex of a woman.

Is a traditional harmful practice that involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Intentional killing of a girl child due to the strong partiality for boys over girls by parents and communities.

An acronym that refers to someone who was assigned female sex at birth. It stands for Female-Assigned at Birth. This may also be expressed as Coercively Assigned Female at Birth (CAFAB).

Households where either no adult males are present, owing to divorce, migration, non-marriage, or widowhood; or where the men, although present, do not contribute to the household income.

The killing of females because they are females (Russell et al, 2001). It is known to prevail before the advent of Islam, serving the killing of female newborns, for fear of falling into captivity in the wars that arise between the tribes, staining the honor of the family and the tribe. This practice is still known in China but done for a different reason.

Those behaviors, languages and practices, existing in specific cultural and organizational locations, which are commonly associated with females and thus culturally defined as not masculine (Whitehead & Barrett, 2001). It indicates the qualities and characteristics that a female should have to be a "woman".-Such generalizations are based on beliefs rather than observations or proofs. “Feminine” qualities and characteristics change from one place to another and also by time, and differ according to age . Thus there are many definitions of femininity (or what a woman is) globally.

The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

Studies that aim mainly to provide a scholarly understanding of women’s and girl’s situations, roles and options in societies and cultures.

Trend towards an increasing proportion of women amongst international migrant workers.

A series of phenomena within poverty affect men and women differently, resulting in poor women outnumbering poor men, women suffering more severe poverty than men, and female poverty displaying a more marked tendency to increase, largely because of the rise in the number of female-headed households.

Women may have difficulties keeping to fixed schedules because of family responsibilities. Management could be persuaded to be flexible on working hours. For example, core working hours of six hours per day could be arranged with flexible working hours on either side, as long as a certain number of hours are worked per week. In other cases, there could be an averaging of annual hours. One should be careful when introducing flexible working time schemes for improving productivity that these do not have a disproportionally negative effect on women. Very few companies in the Arab region favour flexible working time.

Intentional termination of pregnancy without the prior and informed consent of the woman.

Intentional conduct of forcing an adult or child to enter into a marriage, lacking the personal expression of the full, informed and free consent of one or both of the parties.

Unlawful confinement of a woman who has been forcibly impregnated, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law.

Form of slavery incompatible with human dignity and fundamental human rights.