Abstract
In the Millennium Declaration, the proportion (or ratio) of females to males in a given sector is used as the indicator for gender inequality. A critical limitation in the proportion (or ratio) statistic is that it does not include randomness in gender disparity over a period of time. It is well-known that randomness, which is a key ingredient in studying the behaviour of a system, is measured using entropy. This paper presents the use of entropy as an alternative measure for gender inequality in a sector of an economy.KEYWORDS: Entropy; gender inequality; Millennium Declaration; randomness.
Highlights
Discrimination against women in all fields of human endeavour has resulted to a crushing problem of gender inequality
As stated in the Millennium Declaration, gender inequality is indicated in the ratios of females to males enrolled at all levels of education; the ratio of literate females to males 15-24 years old; the share of females in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector; and the proportion of seats held by women in national parliament (Ogbonna, 2006)
The motivation for this study is based on the priority of the Millennium Declaration for gender equality as the target of achieving gender equality by 2015 is fast approaching, and on the assertion by Oroge (1999) that many legislations have been enacted which provide equal opportunities for women and men and protect women from being discriminated against, but in practice, these may not necessarily be so
Summary
Discrimination against women in all fields of human endeavour has resulted to a crushing problem of gender inequality. As stated in the Millennium Declaration, gender inequality is indicated in the ratios of females to males enrolled at all levels of education (primary, secondary, and tertiary levels); the ratio of literate females to males 15-24 years old; the share of females in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector; and the proportion of seats held by women in national parliament (Ogbonna, 2006). We develop an entropy index as an alternative measure for gender inequality in a sector of an economy, and applied it to enrolment in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria using data in Nwagwu (1998).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
