Gender Inequality Index Research Articles

Global Inequalities in Cervical Cancer Incidence and Mortality are Linked to Deprivation, Low Socioeconomic Status, and Human Development.

This study examined global inequalities in cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates as a function of cross-national variations in the Human Development Index (HDI), socioeconomic factors, Gender Inequality Index (GII), and healthcare expenditure. Age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates were calculated for women in 184 countries using the 2008 GLOBOCAN database, and incidence and mortality trends were analyzed using the WHO cancer mortality database. Log-linear regression was used to model annual trends, while OLS and Poisson regression models were used to estimate the impact of socioeconomic and human development factors on incidence and mortality rates. Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates varied widely, with many African countries such as Guinea, Zambia, Comoros, Tanzania, and Malawi having at least 10-to-20-fold higher rates than several West Asian, Middle East, and European countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Switzerland. HDI, GII, poverty rate, health expenditure per capita, urbanization, and literacy rate were all significantly related to cervical cancer incidence and mortality, with HDI and poverty rate each explaining >52% of the global variance in mortality. Both incidence and mortality rates increased in relation to lower human development and higher gender inequality levels. A 0.2 unit increase in HDI was associated with a 20% decrease in cervical cancer risk and a 33% decrease in cervical cancer mortality risk. The risk of a cervical cancer diagnosis increased by 24% and of cervical cancer death by 42% for a 0.2 unit increase in GII. Higher health expenditure levels were independently associated with decreased incidence and mortality risks. Global inequalities in cervical cancer are clearly linked to disparities in human development, social inequality, and living standards. Reductions in cervical cancer rates are achievable by reducing inequalities in socioeconomic conditions, availability of preventive health services, and women's social status.

Health Improvements Have Been More Rapid and Widespread in China than in India: A Comparative Analysis of Health and Socioeconomic Trends from 1960 to 2011.

We examined differences between China and India in key health and socioeconomic indicators, including life expectancy, infant and child mortality, non-communicable disease mortality from cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and diabetes, Human Development Index, Gender Inequality Index, material living conditions, and health expenditure. Data on health and social indicators came from various World Health Organization and United Nations databases on global health and development statistics, including the GLOBOCAN cancer database. Mortality trends were modeled by log-linear regression, and differences in rates and relative risks were tested for statistical significance. Although both countries have made marked improvements, India lags behind China on several key health indicators. Differential rates of mortality decline during 1960-2009 have led to a widening health gap between China and India. In 2009 the infant mortality rate in India was 50 deaths per 1,000 live births, 3 times greater than the rate for China. Sixty-six out of 1,000 Indian children died before reaching their 5th birthday, compared with 19 children in China. China's life expectancy is 9 years longer than India's. Life expectancy at birth in India increased from 42 years in 1960 to 65 years in 2009, while life expectancy in China increased from 47 years in 1960 to 74 years in 2009. Major health concerns for China include high rates of stomach, liver, and lung cancer, CVD, and smoking prevalence. Globally, India ranked 90th and China 102nd in life satisfaction. India's less favorable health profile compared to China is largely attributable to its higher rates of mortality from communicable diseases and maternal and perinatal conditions. Further health gains can be achieved by reducing social inequality, greater investments in human development and health services, and by prevention and control of chronic-disease risks such as hypertension, smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity.

Are UNDP Indices Appropriate to Capture Gender Inequalities in Europe?

This study critically investigates the suitability of United Nations’ composite indices and other related measures—among which the Gender Inequality Index just released in 2010—to capture gender inequalities in the context of “highly developed” countries, focusing on the case of Europe. Our results indicate that many of the gender gaps in health and education variables have either vanished or even reversed, thus questioning their appropriateness to capture women’s disadvantage in Europe and inviting to construct region-specific measures. Alternatively, parliamentary representation and labor force participation are variables with large gender gaps that highlight important dimensions where women disadvantage prevails. Different cross-section and cross-time associations between economic growth and gender equality are generally not statistically significant—or at most weakly correlated—at European level. This is basically due to the fact that the gender gaps included in UNDP gender-related indices reached their normatively desirable values long ago, therefore leaving no room for further improvement.

Measurement of gender inequality in neighbourhoods of Québec, Canada

IntroductionFew studies have measured gender inequality at levels lower than the country. We sought to develop neighbourhood indicators of gender inequality, and assess their ability to capture variability in gender inequality across Québec, Canada.MethodsAggregate 2001 census data for 11,564 neighbourhoods were obtained for men and women. Twelve indicators of gender inequality representing demographic/household characteristics, education, income, work/leisure, and political participation were selected. Neighbourhood-level gender inequality scores were computed for each indicator, and examined across parts of Québec (metropolitan areas, mid-sized cities, rural areas). Monte Carlo simulations were used to assess the ability of indicators to capture heterogeneity in gender inequality across neighbourhoods.ResultsMale-dominant neighbourhood-level gender inequality tended to be present for average employment income, labour force participation, employment rate, and employment in managerial positions. Female-dominant gender inequality tended to be present for divorce, single-headed households, and participation in unpaid housework, child and elderly care. Neighbourhood-level gender inequality tended to vary across metropolitan areas, mid-sized cities, and rural areas. Gender inequality scores also varied within these geographic areas. For example, there was greater income-related gender inequality in high than low income neighbourhoods. Monte Carlo simulations suggested that the variation in gender inequality across neighbourhoods was greater than expected with chance alone.ConclusionNeighbourhood-level gender inequality tended to be present in Québec, and varied across parts of the province. Greater awareness of and research on neighbourhood-level gender inequality may be warranted to inform gender policies in Québec and other nations.

How Do Gender Inequalities Hinder Development? Cross-Country Evidence

This paper assumes that gender inequality hinders economic and human development : a one standard deviation change in the Gender Inequality Index (GII) will increase long term income per capita by 9,1% and Human Development Index (HDI) by 4%. Gender inequality may be a explanation of economic development differences : 16% of the long term income difference between South Asia and East Asia & Pacific can be accounted for by the difference in gender inequality. Moreover, this paper provides evidence of a vicious circle between gender inequality and long term income. The multi-dimensional concept of gender inequality is measured by a composite index with endogenous weightings : the Gender Inequality Index (GII). To correct endogeneity and simultaneity problems, the two-stage and three-stage least square methods are used separately. In this way, the steady state per capita income and the human development levels are estimated for 109 developing countries.

Rethinking the paradox: tradeoffs in work-family policy and patterns of gender inequality

On the basis of aggregated data from the most recent ISSP surveys and data from secondary sources, this paper analyzes a wide range of country-level indicators that reflect different dimensions of gender inequality and pertain to the economic position of women in different class situations. The findings reveal that indicators of gender inequality pertaining to women in different class positions are oppositely related to the scope and levels of family policy. Specifically, countries characterized by generous family policies tend to address gender equality among disadvantaged groups, while exhibiting an unequal pattern of gender inequality on indicators related to advantaged groups. By contrast, countries characterized by ungenerous family policies tend to advance equality on parameters related to advantaged groups but perform very poorly on parameters of gender inequality pertaining to disadvantaged groups.

Human development report 2010: Changes in parameters and perspectives

Human Development Report (HDR) 2010 in its 20 th year contains several significant changes. Indicators to measure the three dimensions of Human Development Index (HDI) have been changed: Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Index have been replaced by Gender Inequality Index (GII) and Human Poverty Index has been replaced by Multi-dimensional Poverty Index. Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) has been introduced for the first time. Between 1980 and 2010, India's HDI rose by 1.6% annually from 0.320 to 0.519. While India's HDI value has improved over time, the rank has not improved as much as compared to other developing countries. On GII, India ranked at 122 with a GII value of 0.748 (ranges between 0 and 1) in 2010 HDR (based on data of 2008), revealing considerable loss in achievements in three dimensions of human development - reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market - due to inequality between genders. Multi-dimensional Poverty Index was 0.296 (2000-2008) and IHDI was 0.365 (2000-2007).

Trends in Global Gender Inequality

This study investigates trends in gender inequality for the world as a whole. Using data encompassing a large majority of the world's population, we examine world trends over recent decades for key indicators of gender inequality in education, mortality, political representation, and economic activity. We find that gender inequality is declining in virtually all major domains, that the decline is occurring across diverse religious and cultural traditions, and that population growth is slowing the decline because populations are growing faster in countries where there is the greatest gender inequality.

Determining Gender Equity in Fiscal Federalism: Analytical Issues and Empirical Evidence from India

Despite the policy realm’s growing recognition of fiscal devolution in gender development, there have been relatively few attempts to translate gender commitments into fiscal commitments. This paper aims to engage in this significant debate, focusing on the plausibility of incorporating gender into financial devolution, with the Thirteenth Finance Commission of India as backdrop. Given the disturbing demographics - the monotonous decline in the juvenile sex ratio, especially in some of the prosperous states of India - there can be no valid objection to using Finance Commission transfers for this purpose. A simple method for accomplishing this could be to introduce some weight in favor of the female population of the states in the Commission’s fiscal devolution formula. The message would be even stronger and more appropriate if the population of girl children only - that is, the number of girls in the 0-6 age cohort - is adopted as the basis for determining the states’ relative shares of the amount to be disbursed by applying the allotted weight. A special dispensation for girls would also be justifiable in a scheme of need-based equalization transfers. While social mores cannot be changed by fiscal fiats, particularly when prejudices run deep, a proactive approach by a high constitutional body like the Finance Commission is called for, especially when the prejudices are blatantly oppressive. Indeed, such action is imperative. The intergovernmental transfer system can and should play a role in upholding the right to life for India’s girl children. That being said, it needs to be mentioned that it is not plausible to incorporate more gender variables in the Finance Commission’s already complex transfer formula. In other words, inclusion of a “gender inequality index” in the formula may not result in the intended results, as the variables included in the index may cancel one another out. Accepting the fact that incorporating gender criteria in fiscal devolution could only be the second-best principle for engendering fiscal policy, the paper argues that newfound policy space for the feminization of local governance, coupled with an engendered fiscal devolution to the third tier, can lead to public expenditure decisions that correspond more closely to the revealed preferences (“voice”) of women. With the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, this policy space is favorable at the local level for conducting gender responsive budgeting.

Domains of contestation: Women's empowerment and Islam in Bangladesh

This paper addresses the common question, ‘Does Islam empower women?’ in the context of contemporary Bangladesh. Its aim is not to offer a substantive answer, but to bring out the politics of the question, and to suggest some new criteria by which specific cases might be assessed. The paper begins by exploring the complexity of question, given the longstanding use of gender as key signifier of both modernity and Islam, which is intensified in the current ‘war on terror.’ It then outlines briefly the situation in Bangladesh, characterised by narrowing indicators of gender inequality on the one hand and increased visibility of Islam in society and politics on the other. Tracing how religion figures in the gender literature reveals shifts from absence, to masculine (and oppressive) presence, to stressing women's (oppositional) agency, and to seeing women themselves as religious subjects. Two individual religious women in Bangladesh are then introduced, and the commonalities and contrasts between them analysed. The paper concludes that the gender politics of Islam cannot be assumed, since there is diversity by broader political perspective, experience, and social location. Affirming the moves of recent scholarship to understand religious narratives in their own terms, it nevertheless argues that this is not sufficient. There is need to explore two further basic questions: how others are positioned through the exterior constructed by the constitution of the self; and whether one domain may be co-opted by another, to serve very different political ends.

The Measurement of Multidimensional Gender Inequality: Continuing the Debate

The measurement of multidimensional gender inequality is an increasingly important topic that has very relevant policy applications and implications but which has not received much attention from the academic literature. In this paper I make a comprehensive and critical review of the indices proposed in recent years in order to systematise the different underlying ideas. I also present new gender inequality indices that overcome some limitations of the preceding ones. Using United Nations data, empirical results for the new indicators are provided, suggesting that the choice of one indicator or another can make an important difference for the ranking of those countries that have achieved high levels of gender equality.

Gender Inequality and Economic Growth in Spain: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper compares the geometric variant of the Gender-Related Development Index with that of the Human Development Index for Spanish provinces (EUROSTAT Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics-3, NUTS-3) in 1959, 1981, and 1999. The main objective is to carry out an exploratory analysis of the relationship between these indices and two alternative indices of gender inequality—the Relative Status of Women and the Gender Inequality Index. An analysis of the relationship between these indices and economic growth at the provincial level is also conducted.

Intercity variation in gender inequalities in China: analysis of a 1995 national survey

Recent research portrays a mixed picture of the impact of post-1978 economic reforms on gender inequality in China. We analyze a 1995 national survey of urban China (10,967 individuals in 55 cities) and city-level data compiled from Chinese statistical yearbooks to show intercity covariations between an index of marketization and a set of indicators of gender inequality in the labor markets. Our analysis shows gender gaps in human capital, political capital, labor market placement, and work earnings. Most of these gender inequalities remain constant across cities of varying degrees of product, labor, and capital marketization. To the extent that the amount of gender inequality is correlated with marketization, this association is a non-monotonic one, indicating a nonlinear, accumulative marketization process. Major changes have taken place in the most marketized cities, where the gender disparity in affiliation with the state sector has diminished and gender-based occupational segregation has been on the rise.

Can Legislation Reduce Gender Differences in Subject Choice? A Survey of GCSE and A level Entries Between 1970 and 1995

This paper investigates the extent of gender differences in subject choice patterns at GCSE and A level between 1970 and 1995. A Gender Inequality Index (GII) is derived to analyse national examination entry data, in particular to compare the impact of the Sex Discrimination Act and National Curriculum on the overall time trends. The paper finds that the GII slopes downwards over time, but that neither intervention had a significant impact on the rate of decline at A level and only the National Curriculum did so at GCSE level.

Gender inequality in childhood: Toward a life course perspective

Gender inequality does not begin with adulthood, yet scholarship has dealt most appreciably with indicators summarizing patterns for adults. Life course differences need to be recognized and incorporated into the study of gender inequality. I propose various societal practices (such as female infanticide, harsher punishment, social ceremonies, and inclusion) and beliefs (such as son preference, affection, and evaluation) as cross-cultural indicators of gender inequality in childhood. The analysis of preindustrial societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock and White, 1969) finds that childhood gender inequality is related to hunger, warfare, patrilocality, and the economic contribution and control of women. Childhood gender inequality shares some similarities with adulthood gender inequality but differs in theoretically relevant ways; for example, familial explanations, which are often relegated to secondary status in gender inequality theory, are high-lighted. The implications of focusing on childhood and the life course for gender inequality theory are discussed.

A critical note on UNDP's gender inequality indices

This paper analyses the different indices applied for the measurement of human development as constructed by the United Nations Development Program. Of special interest is the Gender Development Index (GDI), introduced in the 1995 Human Development Report and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). In light of the male bias in the Indian socio-economic context, the application of the GDI and GEM acquires special significance. A critical appraisal of their theoretical base and their application has been undertaken in this paper. The conclusion is that GDI and GEM although praise- worthy achievements on the part of the UNDP, do not adequately reflect or measure male/female disparity in the Indian context. Both indices suffer from the weakness of employing a pre-assigned value of the Gender Sensitive Equity Indicator. They also exhibit several other shortcomings, outlined here. GDI is a poor indicator of the relative deprivation of females as shown by our analysis of the relationship between the GDI and the female/male ratio for 16 Indian core states. But as to women, who can penetrate the real sufferings of their she condition? Man's very sympathy with their estate has much of selfishness and more suspicion. Their love, their virtue, beauty, education, but form good housekeepers, to breed a nation — Lord Byron

Gender Inequalities and Economic Growth: A Longitudinal Evaluation

This longitudinal evaluation of gender inequalities and economic growth addresses key questions in the evolving debate over the character of gender differentiation and the goals of womens empowerment. These questions include: 1) whether the impact of strategies of economic growth served to enhance or undermine the status of women; 2) whether changes in the status of women were accompanied by significant changes in gender inequality; and 3) the implications for existing debates. Section I reviews several sets of literature pertinent to the questions using three general approaches: modernization-neoclassical women in development and gender and development. Section II presents the data and methods used in the evaluation. The research assessed the contending interpretations reviewed in the first section by combining another set of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on womens status and inequalities between men and women with other existing indicators. Section III discusses the results in the following order: 1) cross-sectional patterns in womens status; 2) trends in womens status; 3) cross-sectional patterns in inequality between men and women; 4) trends in inequality between men and women; and 5) conclusion. Finally section IV presents an overall discussion of the findings of the whole longitudinal evaluation.

International data on women and gender

The official document of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women— Platform for Action for Equality, Development and Peace— calls for the collection and improvement of gender-disaggregated data because of their importance for planning and evaluation toward achieving women’s empowerment. This article examines the resources available and discusses the persistent issues surrounding the definition, production, compilation, and use of international data on women and gender. We also present an example of our critical use of these problematic data—the Social Indicators of Gender Inequality. Only by using data critically—aware of problematic assumptions and irregular collection practices—will the data be improved for the benefit of women.

Economic Strategies, Welfare Regimes and Gender Inequality in Employment in the European Union

Female participation in paid employment has in creased significantly in recent decades throughout Europe, but despite the existence of equal opportuni ties policies the position of women in the labour market remains a subordinate one. There are how ever, significant differences between European Union countries in terms of the extent of inequality. Using data from Eurostat, and a methodology simi lar to the United Nations human development index, a composite index of gender inequality in employ ment is devised and estimated for countries in the EU in order to identify more precisely the extent of variation in gender differences. These differences in gender inequality in employ ment are linked to relationships between the state, the economy and society, more specifically, in terms of welfare regimes and regulatory frameworks. Pre liminary results indicate marked differences in the extent of gender inequality between social demo cratic and liberal market economies with varying performances in the more corporatist and in the southern or peripheral economies suggesting that any harmonization of social policy in the EU should be towards rather than away from more social demo cratic regimes if gender equality in employment is considered to be a desirable social goal.

MOVING FROM `THE STATUS OF WOMEN' TO `GENDER INEQUALITY': CONCEPTUALISATION, SOCIAL INDICATORS AND AN EMPIRICAL APPLICATION

This paper extends the conceptualisation and refines the operationalisation of gender inequality. The aim is to bridge theory - on gender relations - and measurement - of the reality of gender for women and men - by means of a set of social indicators of gender inequality. We first elaborate the concept of gender inequality and differentiate it from `women's status'. Gender inequality is defined as the departure from parity in the representation of women and men in key dimensions of social life. Next, we operationalise the concept through a set of social indicators developed from statistics provided in the United Nations Women's Statistics and Indicators (WISTAT) database. The 21 indicators measure disparities in the distribution of women and men in socially valued positions in five dimensions - physical well-being, public power, family formation, education and economic activity - within two spheres: human rights and social relations. Finally, we apply the social indicators of gender inequality in a cross-national analysis of the disparities between women and men at different levels of national development. The findings reveal the dismal state of women's human rights across all levels of national income and the disadvantage women experience in the interconnection between social relations of production and reproduction in countries rich or poor. This more complex measure of gender inequality has the potential to inform policy and practices aimed at achieving gender equality.