Social Watch: Gender Equity Index 2009

“In most societies men and women are assigned different responsibilities, rights, benefits and opportunities in the activities they perform, in access to control of resources and in decision-making processes.”

Social Watch, therefore, developed a Gender Equity Index (GEI) in order to make these gender differences worldwide more visible and internationally comparable. The index uses various gender inequity indicators (including education, economic participation and empowerment) to classify and rank countries accordingly. These indicators reflect unfavourable situations to women, which means that “the final value on the index depends on the degree of negative inequity for women prevailing in a given country or region.” It does not take into account whether there may also be inequities that are positive for women and negative for men.

The Gender Equity Index 2009, recently released, shows both progression and regression. In terms of education, the report finds that the gender gap has narrowed. “Some 83 (41%) of the 202 countries observed are in a better situation and another 60 (30%) are above average.” Regarding women’s empowerment, however, the results are mixed. While progress has been made in terms of women’s increased participation in politics – “the overwhelming majority of countries in the world have not attained minimum acceptable levels because the starting points have been so low,” the report notes. Finally, in terms of economic participation, the overall situation of women has worsened since 2008, showing the gendered nature of the global financial crisis as well as a process of geographic polarization. The region worst affected economically is Sub-Saharan Africa.