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Gender Equality and Social Institutions
International Expert Workshop
Measuring Gender Equality – Taking Stock, Looking Forward
OECD Development CentreParis, 24-25 May 2007
Presentation Overview
Measuring Gender Equality: Why focus on social institutions?
I
A new tool: The Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID)
II
Conclusions and OutlookIII
Measuring Gender Equality:Why Focus on Social Institutions?
• Social Institutions include norms, traditions and family law
• Important impact on the well-being of women and the long-term growth prospects of countries
• May arguably be the most important determinants of gender equality
– they have generally been in existence for centuries
– are extremely difficult to change
– and frequently override formal laws and regulations
Traditi
ons
Social N
orms
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Religious Practices
Family Law
Educational Atta
inment
e.g. literacy rates
Political Empowerment,
e.g. voting rightsEconomic
Particip
ation
and Opportu
nity
e.g. labour fo
rce partic
ipation
Health and Survival,
e.g. life expectancy
How do Social Institutions Fit in?
Gender Equality
Source: Own illustration
The Gender, Institutions and Development Database
• A new tool for researchers and policy makers to:– quantify and measure gender equality– compare the status of women across countries– build indicators of gender equality– analyse obstacles to women’s socio-economic development
• Covers 161 countries and has 60 indicators
• Includes institutional variables that range from intra-household behaviour to social norms
GID-Indicators: Social Institutions
Family Code •Marriage before the age of 20
•Acceptance of polygamy within a society
•Parental authority granted to father and mother equally
•Inheritance practices in favour of male heirs
Physical Integrity
•Prevalence of female genital mutilation
•Missing Women
•Legislation punishing acts of violence against women
Civil Liberties •Freedom of movement
•Obligation to wear a veil in public
Ownership Rights
•Women’s access to land ownership
•Women’s access to bank loans
•Women’s access to property other than land
MEASUREMENT 0 = NO DISCRIMINATION to 1 = HIGH DISCRIMINATION
Social institutions affect the level of female employment…
ZWE
ZMB
YEM
VNM
VEN
URYUSAGBR
UAE
UKR
UGA
TUR
TUN
TGO
THA
TZA
SYR
CHE
SWE
SDN
LKAESP ZAF
SVK
SEN
SAU
RUS
ROUPRTPOL
PHL
PER
PRYPAN
PAK
OMN
NOR
NGA
NER
NIC
NZL
NLD
NPL
NAM
MMR
MOZ
MAR
MEXMUSMRT
MLTMLI
MYS
MWI
MDG
LUX
LBY
LBNKWT
KORKEN
JOR
JPNITA
ISRIRL
IRN
IDN
IND
ISL
HUN
HND
HTI
GNB
GRC
GHA
DEUFRA
FIN
FJI
ETH
EST
ERI
GNQ
SLV
EGY
ECU
DOM
DNKCZE
CUB
CIV
CRI
COL
CHNCHL
TCD
CAF
CAN
CMR
BFA
BGR
BRA BWA
BOL
BENBEL
BGD
BHR
AUT
AUSARMARG
AGO
DZA
ALB
020
4060
0 .2 .4 .6 .8Institutions
Fitted values WWORKING (non-agri %)
Source: Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base
…and women’s educational attainment
ZWE
ZMB
YEM
VNM
VENURYUSA
UAE
UKR
UGA
TUR
TUN
TGO
THA
TZA
SYRSDN
LKAESP ZAFSVK
SEN
SAU
RUSROUPRTPOLPHL
PER
PRYPAN
PAK
OMNNGA
NER
NIC
NPL
NAM
MMR
MOZ
MAR
MEXMUS
MRT
MLT
MLI
MYS
MWI
MDG
LUX
LBY
LBN
KWTKOR
KENJOR
ITAISR
IRN
IDN
IND
HUN HND
HTI
GNB
GRC
GHA
FRAFJI
ETH
EST
ERI
GNQ
SLV
EGY
ECUDOMCUB
CIV
CRICOL
CHN
CHL
TCD
CAF
CMR
BFA
BGRBRA
BWA
BOL
BEN
BGD
BHR
AUS ARMARG
AGO
DZA
ALB
.4.6
.81
1.2
0 .2 .4 .6 .8Institutions
Fitted values RatioLIT
Source: Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base
Family Code
Marriage before the age of 20• early marriage a good proxy of the percentage of forced
marriages; reliable data • not pertinent when many couples are not married;
pressure of parents may also have disappeared
Acceptance of polygamy within a society• interesting variable as it reveals important gender
inequality • information less satisfactory if polygamy is not legal but
practised according to custom
ADDITIONAL VARIABLES• The percentage of married men engaged in polygamous
unions• Repudiation/divorce procedures: divorce main factor of
poverty for women• Percentage of women between 15-19 years who are
mothers or pregnant
Family CodeParental authority (parental authority during marriage and
custody of children after divorce)• usually very brief information; need to systematically collect
data on custody• In some OECD countries, the mother alone has nearly
always custody of the children: is it equal or unequal?
Inheritance (equality between daughters and sons, or between
widows and their husband’s family when there is no child)• Information about the first aspect is nearly always available,
but not about the second, which should be monitored closer
PROBLEM• Both aspects are linked to the access of women to land
property. When access is limited to men, inequality concerning inheritance among peasants is not an independent variable.
Q
Physical IntegrityPrevalence of female genital mutilation• clearly a form of violence against women, fairly reliable information• concerns only certain regions
Missing women• clear form of violence; demographic statistics provide reliable
information; analysed in-depth by S. Klasen et al. • link between sex ratio and violence against women not always
conclusive
Legislations punishing acts of violence against women• data available and homogeneous in a very large number of countries• weak correlation between the legislation and the frequency of acts
of violence against women
ADDITIONAL VARIABLES• Acceptance of violence by women: high correlation with
frequency of violence, but data only provided for less than 40 countries
• Percentage of women killed by their husband: clear form of violence, but only available for less than 50 countries
Civil LibertiesObligation to wear a veil in public• often the sign of a life in a state of submission• situation is only clear in countries in which no woman or all
women wear a veil • Does a frequency below 100% mean anything as regards
obligation?
Freedom of movement • direct incidence on women’ participation to economy• no precise and reliable sources, mostly qualitative information;
need for quantitative data
ADDITIONAL VARIABLES• application for a passport without the permission of the
husband • ratio of women who are member of an association compared to
the ratio of men who are a member
Q
Ownership Rights
Women’s access to land property• Property, especially land ownership in developing
countries, the basis of economic activity; clear indication of women’s exclusion
Women’s access to non-land-assets• No satisfactory information for cases in which custom –
not law – requires women to demand the approval of their husband prior to ownership
Women’s access to credit • Frequently insufficient data on the role of micro-finance
institutions
ADDITIONAL VARIABLES• (In)equalities in business contracting (according to laws
and in practice)
Two Proposals for Additional Variables
1) The image of women in the media, in (school) textbooks and value judgments/opinions
• Interest: the image and the value judgments are correlated with the status of women
• Basic information available, but more details must be collected• The World Value Surveys contains many useful questions about
value judgment
2) The relationship between economic activity and parenthood
• Concerns OECD countries as well as the formal sector of developing countries.
• Without monetary subsidies or accessible child care facilities, very difficult for women to keep their job while raising young children
• Sources concerning these measures exist (cf. ILO studies, UE statistics)
Conclusions and Outlook
• Gender equality is key to development
• Social institutions have so far been largely overlooked
– research should better analyse their role
– so that policies can address them effectively
• Outlook– Improve the GID-DB – Revise existing indicators– Exchange experiences on measurements of gender
equality (e.g. International Expert Meetings)– Collaborate with other international organisations
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