‘Truth, not noise’: ambassador backs gender data
Australia’s gender equality ambassador has backed continued investment in collecting gender data to inform policy, combat misinformation and improve the lives of women and girls.
Ambassador Michelle O’Byrne is attending the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women as part of the Australian delegation.
The two-week conference, held in New York, is dedicated not only to the promotion of gender equality but also to the rights and empowerment of women.
Ms O’Byrne was appointed ambassador in August 2025 after serving as the federal Labor member for Bass from 1998 to 2004 and then as the state member for Bass in the Tasmanian parliament from 2006 to 2025.
At a UN Women event on the sidelines of CSW, Ms O’Byrne said Australia had chosen to invest in gender data collection to ensure governments had evidence to make better decisions and outcomes.
“Policymakers can’t plan, they can’t target resource solutions, they can’t measure progress without a truly complete and accurate picture of who is being reached and who is being left behind,” he said Wednesday local time.
“High-quality data that includes gender and disability is important because… it ensures that women, girls and people with disabilities are taken into account (and) recognizes that progress requires visibility.”
UN Women is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its Women Count programme, which aims to transform gender data systems around the world.
The Ambassador said that collecting gender data is more important than ever in 2026, when the world faces complex challenges full of uncertainties.
“At a time when misinformation and disinformation in really simple narratives can distort public debate, gender data allows us to base our choices on evidence,” she said.
“It bases public policy on fact, not noise.”
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, said far too long outdated data collection practices meant women were excluded from policies and programs that could benefit them.
“It is clear that we need data to shape and reform policies, norms and laws,” he said.
“(Parliamentarians) need evidence; they need data to change policies to strengthen norms, laws and institutions.”
