Headline January 19, 2018/ '' ' WOMEN'S COMPLEX WOUNDS ' ''

'' ' WOMEN'S COMPLEX WOUNDS ' ''

*HONORING AND INVESTING* in women is a highly effective development intervention, without which the world can never ever solve-

The complex realities of girls and women's lives and the hopeless conditions that produce over whelming poverty and inequality and suffering.

Here then, is the Ghost Statistic that Haunts Women's Empowerment:

BUT could this statistic be true? With so many powerful people and institutions citing it, it certainly seemed true. If it were, it would reflect the disproportionate burden that some girls and women bear for the well-being of others,

I emphasize ''some'' because the images of girls and women accompanying the statistic in the policy briefs and programs Web sites were never of middle - and upper-class white girls and women from the U.S. or Europe-girls and women like me.

The images were always of poor black and brown girls and women from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Thus, if it were true, the purported social and economic return would reflect gender disparities that are deeply radicalized in the global imagination.

I began searching for its origin, But my research revealed nothing but a peculiar set of inter-institutional citation practices. The State Department cited the World Bank. The World Economic Forum cited the Nike Foundation, The Nike Foundation didn't cite any study.

Neither did the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. Melinda Gates has said it again and again, but has never cited a study.

In writing this essay, I reached out to some of the institutions using the statistic, as I continued to seek a source. The Nike Foundation spokesperson referred me to a book where where she believed the citation was found a black-and-white book of photography of women around the world called :

''Women Empowered : Inspiring Change in the Emerging World''. The citation in the book said :  ''United Nations study,'' with no other information. A spokesperson for the Food and Agriculture Organization provided a citation from a 2009 Nike Foundation - funded report by Plan International, which cites a Nike Foundation media document.

The F.A.O spokesperson told me, ''Precise figures on on this subject do not exist and 90% seems high, especially as there is considerably case-by-case variation by age, family size and composition, type of income and so on.''

The World Bank spokesperson said definitively that there was no source, adding. ''We work to weed out so-called source zombie statistics, such as this one, from use in our reports as they are not based on facts of data.''

The World Bank spokesperson said that it would remove the statistic from the Web site.

In the past decade, the quest for Big Data has become all the rage among major development institutions. In 2014, the U.N, called for a ''data revolution for sustainable development.''

In 2016, Gates Foundation announced an eighty-million-dollar commitment to ''close gender data gaps.''

In my recent communication with the World Bank, the spokesperson explained, ''One of the biggest barriers to closing gender equality gaps between men and women is the lack of data and evidence that make the case for policy-makers to prioritize gender equality.''

These institutions herald quantitative approaches to produce the most valid and reliable data, with randomized control trials as the gold standard.

Yet the ghost statistic should be a cautionary tale. Even when quantitative data are valid, they often produce very limited understanding of the complex realities of girls and women's lives and the conditions that produce poverty and inequality.

Those simply cannot be captured by a trial of survey alone.

The Gates Foundation spokesperson for example, sent me recent studies showing that investing in women is highly effective development intervention.

The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Women and Empowerment continues.

With most respectful and loving dedication to the memories of my Great Mother Lady Ashrafat Jan, and my very beautiful aunt, her younger sister, Lady Gohar Sultan, my eldest sister Imtiaz Querishi, my sister- in-laws, Jamila Querishi, Dr. Fehmida Querishi, and Ms Raeesa Begum, my mother-in-law and............

To the ever lasting Honors of Ms. Sajida Sultan Abbasi, Rabo's mother, Haleema's late mother, Mrs. Wajid Shah, Dee's mother, Saima's mother, Sarah's mother, Sameen's mother, and To All The Mothers of the World, and then-

Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare for Great Global Elections and  ''register'' on : wssciw.blogspot.com - The World Students Society and Twitter -E-!WOW! - the ecosystem 2011:

''' Lance & Laws '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless