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