MoSPI and UN Women Hold National Conference on Gender Statistics

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and UN Women jointly held a one-day National Conference on the theme Gender Data and Statistics: From Evidence to Policy Insights in New Delhi on 2 November 2026. Policymakers, officers of Union ministries and departments, representatives of state governments, statisticians, researchers, academic institutions, technical specialists and officials of United Nations agencies sat together for the day. The single question before them was practical: how can figures already collected about women and men be turned into decisions that change lives?

Why the conference was called

The immediate purpose was to carry the findings of Women and Men in India 2025, a flagship publication of MoSPI, to the people who draft and run programmes. The organisers wanted three things from the day. First, a deeper reading of what the volume shows and how its findings connect across sectors. Second, conversation between ministries and other stakeholders that usually work apart. Third, a list of openings where gender-disaggregated figures could be put to stronger analytical and policy use.

Who spoke

• Ms Shoko Ishikawa, Country Representative of UN Women India, gave the welcome address and pressed for closing the distance between those who produce data and those who use it
• Mr Jean-Eric Paque, Ambassador of the European Union to India, spoke on the EU-India Strategic Partnership in advancing gender equality and women's economic participation
• Dr Preetam B. Yashvant, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, also addressed the gathering
• Dr Dalip Singh, Director General (Central Statistics) at MoSPI, treated the naming of gender gaps as the first condition for evidence-based policy
• Dr Shamika Ravi, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, pointed to gains in welfare delivery and women's financial empowerment, and asked for better quality of employment, state-level analysis and firmer gender statistics

The inaugural session closed with a vote of thanks by Ms Supriya Roy, Additional Director General, MoSPI.

Four technical sessions

The programme was built as four thematic technical sessions. They covered health and survival across the life course; girls' education, learning and transition; women's work, wages, formality and care; and women's livelihoods, enterprises, skills and financial inclusion. The health discussion credited progress in maternal healthcare and essential services while flagging nutrition and adolescent health. The education session welcomed better enrolment but named weak learning outcomes, thin participation in STEM and broken pathways into employment. On work, a rising female labour-force participation was acknowledged alongside job quality, wage disparity and unpaid care work. The livelihoods session recorded progress in entrepreneurship and financial inclusion, and sought easier credit, market access, sustainable livelihoods, agency and safety.

How the day ended

In the valedictory session Ms Suhela Khan, Country Programme Manager for Women's Economic Empowerment at UN Women India, and Ms Geeta Singh Rathore, Director General (NSS) at MoSPI, returned to the gaps that persist in health, education and economic participation. Ms Sunitha Bhaskar, Additional Director General at MoSPI, delivered the closing vote of thanks. The deliberations also became material for later editions of the publication, the 2026 one in particular, with calls for sharper measurement of gender gaps and tighter coordination between ministries.