& Statistical Report

Methodological & Statistical Report
Bridging the Gender Gaps: The Africa Gender Index Report 2019
Copyright © 2020 African Development Bank and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
All rights reserved. Published March 2020
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019
This document was prepared jointly by the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department at the African Development Bank and the Gender, Poverty and Social Development Policy Division at the United Na- tions Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Designations employed in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the Bank and ECA concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or the delimitation of its frontiers. While every effort has been made to present reliable information, the Bank and ECA accept no responsibility whatsoever for any consequences of its use.
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT4
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT 5
Acronyms 6 Executive Summary 7
1. Contextual analysis and the development of the Africa Gender Index 9 1.1 Introduction 9 1.2 Motivation for the Africa Gender Index 9 1.3 Rationale for the development of the joint Africa Development Bank-UN Economic Commission for Africa (Bank-UNECA) Africa Gender Index Africa Gender Index 11 1.4 Goal and objectives of the Africa Gender Index 12
2. Conceptual framework of the Africa Gender Index 13 2.1 Dimensions of the Africa Gender Index 13 2.2 Criteria for Indicator Selection 14 2.3 Definition of Indicators 16 2.4 Imputation of Missing Data 18 2.5 Limitations of the Africa Gender Index 18
3. Calculating the Africa Gender Index Africa Gender Index 19 3.1 Step 1 : Normalizing variables 19 3.2 Step 2 : Aggregating within dimensions 20 3.3 Step 3 : Calculating the dimension gender gap 21 3.4 Step 4 : Aggregating across dimensions 21
4. Main Findings 23 4.1 Africa Gender Index and Component Indices Gap 23 4.2 Robustness Analysis 25 4.3 Dimension Gap Analysis 26 4.4 Climate change impact on the wellbeing of women and men 27 4.5 Gender Equality and Women’s Reproductive Health 28
Conclusion and Policy Recommendation 33 Tables of results 34 Results by Regional Economic Communities 46 References 48
TABLE OF CONTENT
African Development Bank
Africa Gender Equality Index
African Union Commission
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Demographic and Health Survey
Gender related Development Index
System of National Account
AfDB
AGDI
AGEI
AGI
AGEWEI
AUC
CEDAW
DHS
GDI
GEI
GEM
GGGI
HDRO
ILO
LFS
LSMS
MDG
PC
SDG
SIGI
SNA
UNECA
ACRONYMS
The Africa Gender Index (AGI) is a composite index jointly developed by the African Development Bank Group (the Bank) and the United Nations Eco- nomic Commission for Africa (UNECA). It is intended to, among other things, gauge how women are faring alongside their male counterparts in three dimensions of human wellbeing-economic, social and empowerment (political and institutional representation).
The centrality of gender equality is increasingly being recognised in countries around the world and there are both regional and global frameworks re- quiring states to commit to its achievement.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) has 17 aspirational sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. Goal 5 is a standalone goal urging member states to strive to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. In addition, gender per- spectives and special indicators for women are wo- ven into many of the other SDGs in particular those related to poverty eradication, health, educational attainment, water and sanitation, employment and access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
The first aspirational goal of the African Union Agenda 2063 is "a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development." Thus, a transformative Africa requires knowledgeable and healthy states where women and men have equal opportunity to expand their capabilities and choices in order to contribute to the development processes on equal footing as men.
Thus, a transformative Africa requires knowledgeable and healthy states where women and men have equal opportunity to expand their capabilities and choices in order to contribute to the development processes on equal footing as men.
This first AGI Report intends to support African countries to monitor these commitments and serves as baseline information from which the continent will monitor progress towards gender equality. It complements other gender indices and dashboard indicators aimed at monitoring progress on gender equality. Limited availability of policy relevant gender statistics, poses a challenge to including some very important aspects of gender inequality in the AGI. The AGI is therefore a living index that will be reviewed and improved as more data become available, through the Africa data revolution and the sustainable development goals monitoring frameworks.
The index is intended for use by national governments, gender activists, women’s groups, and other non-state actors to advocate for implementation of gender policies and programmes; and for allo- cation of resources to improve the availability and quality of gender statistics.
Findings from analysis of the index show stark inequalities between women and men especially in the economic and empowerment (political and institutional representation) dimensions of the index while gaps in the social dimension are close- ly. In fact, female educational attainment outstrips that of men in a number of countries. Women’s improved educational attainment has not been matched with access to decent job opportunities.
Entrenched traditional norms and value systems, gender segregation of occupation combined with other discriminatory practices such as women’s disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work continue to put women in economic disadvantages. There are less women in decision-making positions, fewer own business or hold top management positions in business and are less likely to own productive assets such as land. The result is persistent gender wage gaps.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
While a conducive legal and policy environment for gender equality exists in a number of countries, there appears to be a lag in implementation. Adap- tive preference resulting from entrenched discriminatory practices and traditional concept of femininity also prevent women from taking advantage of existing laws.
Gender equality is critical for the achievement of the SDGs as well as Africa’s transformation agenda. It will therefore be to the advantage of African governments to implement and enforce existing policies and legislation and to enact new ones where they are lacking. For example, paid maternity leave and public provision of childcare services are important for women’s labour force participation. Work place provision of childcare services is inexpensive and is mutually beneficial to both workers and employers; and should be promoted. Minimum wage legislation is another important avenue to bridge gender gap in earnings.
There is ample evidence that affirmative action such as quota systems has boosted women’s representation
in national parliament. Rwanda is a good example of countries where high female representation in parliament has resulted in enactment of laws to boost women’s status. Yet, many countries have not achieved a quota of thirty % female representation in parliament.
To accelerate the achievement of the goal on gender equality, African governments should consider taking affirmative action to increase participation of women in top decision-making positions. Coun- tries that are yet to achieve the 30 % female quota should intensify their efforts to achieve that.
Efforts should be made to reduce its drudgery through provision of services such as access to water within reasonable distance, access to modern energy and access to modern energy technologies and services. Unpaid care work also needs to be redistributed more equally, between women and men, and between households and society. Pub- lic action is needed to create decent jobs; support women to take up employment opportunities and empower them to shape their working environ- ments.
8 AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
“Recognition of equal rights for women along with men, and the determination to combat discrimination on the basis of gender, are achievements equal in importance to the abolition of slavery, the elimination of colonialism and the establishment of equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities.” 1995 Human Development Report
1.1 Introduction
Gender relationships are changing in many societies and inequalities between men and women are being challenged in virtually every sphere of life-at work, in the home and in public affairs-since the first Women’s Conference was held in Mexico City in 1975. But we are yet to meet the ideal of equal treatment of men and women anywhere in the world. Gender inequalities persist, amidst remark- able social and economic transformations and in spite of movements to challenge women’s subordi- nation. Paradoxically, there is increased recognition that gender inequality is detrimental to national development as its impact affects society as a whole. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical to Africa’s development transformation and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
Firstly, gender equality and women’s empowerment are human rights to be pursued in their own right-human rights are universal and indivisible and entails that all human beings-men and women, are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by gender stere- otypes and the culture of femininity and masculinity. Secondly, Africa cannot achieve any meaningful and sustainable transformation unless the aspirations and the different needs of women and men are considered, valued and favoured equally. While women and men need not be the same-there are obvious biological differences-their rights, re- sponsibilities and opportunities should not depend on whether they are born male or female.
Gender equality is about equity between the sex- es, meaning fairness in treatment of women and men, according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or differential treatment, which is considered equivalent, in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities aimed at re- dressing historical discrimination.
AGI is a composite index jointly developed by the African Development Bank Group (the Bank) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Afri- ca (UNECA). It is intended to among other things, gauge how women are faring alongside their male counterparts in three dimensions of human wellbeing-economic, social and empowerment (representation and institutional).
1.2 Motivation for the AGI
Aside from its intrinsic value, gender equality and women’s empowerment also has an instrumental value. There is ample evidence that investments in women and girls can be a vehicle to promote long- term prospects for growth and human wellbeing. For example, in 2011, the International Labour Or- ganization (ILO) estimated that an additional $1.6 trillion (in purchasing power parity (PPP) in output could be generated globally if the gender gap in employment-to-population is reduced. For sub-Sa- haran Africa, there could be a 0.2 % increase in average annual GDP growth if the gender gaps were reduced1 . Action Aid International also estimates that African women could gain an additional $0.7 trillion (in PPP) if the gender gaps in employment and wages were closed2.
1 CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICA GENDER INDEX
1ILO (2011). 2ActionAid International (2015).
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
Globally, increased wellbeing of women has been found to be positively correlated with child survival and development, and improvement in family wellbeing in general. It is therefore not surprising that African governments have made various global and regional declarations, subscribed to conventions and protocols that commit them to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) has 17 aspirational sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. Goal 5 is a standalone goal urging member states to strive to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. In addition, gender per- spectives and special indicators for women are wo- ven into many of the other SDGs in particular those related to poverty eradication, health, educational attainment, water and sanitation, employment and access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
The first aspirational goal of the African Union Agenda 2063 is "a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development." Thus, a transformative Africa requires knowledgeable and healthy states where women and men have equal opportunity to expand their capabilities and choices in order to contribute to the development processes on equal footing.
The Agenda 2030 and Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 build on previous global gender equality frameworks including:
• The Nairobi Forward Looking Strategy for Ad- vancement of Women;
• the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW);
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child; • the Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development; • the Beijing Platforms for Action;
• the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; and
• African Union solemn Declaration on Gender Equality
Measuring progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment
The implication of the various global and regional commitments on gender equality that African countries have subscribed to, is the need for accu- rate and comprehensive policy relevant gender statistics to gauge how states are delivering on those commitments. Reliable and sound gender statistics are required to assess whether or not progress is being made, identify key gender gaps where policy interventions are needed, and to promote evidence-based planning and decision-making.
However, the production and dissemination of quality gender statistics remain a major challenge in most African countries. Though there have been improvements in the availability of gender statistics, these are limited to socio-economic issues such as poverty, unemployment, educational attainment and mortality. Specifically, what is lacking is ample and quality data on gender and the economy in general, and data on access of men and women to economic resources and opportunities including access to credit from formal financial institutions, ownership of land and other assets, decent employment, entrepreneurship and time use for paid and unpaid care and domestic work.
According to the Report of the UN Women’s As- sessment of Status of Gender Statistics in Africa, there is poor technical capacity for production and analysis of gender statistics. The Assessment also found a lack of systematic integration of gender in National Statistics Systems work programme as well as lack of coordination and harmonization of the data collected.
1.3 Rationale for the development of the joint African Development Bank Group- UN Economic Commission for Africa AGI
1.3.1 The African Gender and Development Index (AGDI)
In response to the gender data challenges, the UNECA developed the AGDI in 2004. The primary objective of the AGDI is to provide African countries with a gender accountability and advocacy tool to implement and assess their progress against gender equality commitments. It consists of two complementary parts: a Gender Status Index (GSI) and the African Women’s Progress Scoreboard (AWPS). The GSI covers the aspects of gender relations that can be measured quantitatively, while the AWPS captures qualitative issues in relation to the performance of gender policies of African Governments on implementing regional and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment . Presently, data have been collected for the AGDI in over 40 countries.
1.3.2 The Africa Gender Equality Index (AGEI)
African Development Bank Group believes that women play a vital role in Africa’s development and should be represented at all levels for improved human wellbeing. Against this backdrop, the Bank constructed the AGEI in 2015 to track progress on gender equality in 52 of Africa’s 54 countries. Its aim is similar with that of the AGDI. It is intended to help African decision-makers focus on some of the most serious barriers that prevent African women from engaging at the same level with men and to help African citizens demand more from their governments. The index is also intended to help the Bank meet its commitments to developing gender-balanced strategies and to anchor its investment decisions in facts. This it is believed, will help maximize the impacts of its programmes on the lives and livelihoods of African men and women. The AGEI was to complement the UNECA’s AGDI introduced in 2004.
However, it is difficult to justify the need for two gender indices for the continent. Having one Afri- can Gender Equality Index that addresses the limitations of the two existing indices will create more strategic synergy, avoid duplication of efforts and less confusion around priority areas for policy in- tervention on gender. Thus, one comprehensive index will help to promote collective focused interventions aimed at promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls on the continent.
AGI presented in this Report is informed by the strengths and weakness of the two existing Africa gender equality indices.
AGI is timely for at least two reasons:
• Firstly, it is being developed at a time where countries are developing their national development plans, which integrate the aspirations of Agendas 2030 and 2063; and
• Secondly, the launch of the Africa Data Revolu- tion initiative, which aims to achieve:
“a profound shift in the way that data are har- nessed to impact on development decision-making, with a particular emphasis on building a culture of usage. The process of embracing a wide range of data communities and diverse range of data sources, tools, and innovative technologies, to provide disaggregated data for decision-making, service delivery and citizen engagement; and information for Africa to own its narrative.”4
The Data Revolution opens up a strategic opportunity to institutionalize the Bank-UNECA’s AGI-as it will expand the data sources in tandem with the gradual process of strengthening Africa’s statistics. In addition, the Index provides a framework for the collection, analysis and use of gender responsive statistics within the Data Revolution.
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3 See UNECA (2016) for more details on the AGDI. 4 The Africa Data Consensus, Eighth Joint Annual AUC-ECA Conference of Minsters, 2015
1.3.3 Value Addition of the AGI
The question that comes to mind is, with all the existing gender indices is there a need to construct another one? The concept of gender equality is perhaps as broad as development itself. It is therefore impossible for one index to capture the depth and breadth of the concept. The AGI is intended as a complement to the existing global gender indices by addressing some of their limitations and focus on some of the missing dimensions.
Furthermore, country ownership of a measure serves as a motivation for its use to inform planning and policy decisions. Global gender measures largely rely on international data sources to enhance cross-country comparability. These data agencies often apply international standards and harmonization procedures for this purpose. Due to the difficulties in coordination between national and international data sources, international sources may not incorporate the most recent national data. This often leads to differences in estimates between national and international data sources for the same indicators, with national data agencies claiming that their estimates are more reliable. As such, there is mistrust for internationally constructed composite indices. The AGI’s strength lies in its effort to as much as possible use national data where available. Notwithstanding, in other to include as many African countries as possible in the index, data are sourced from international sources when country estimates are missing.
1.4 Goal and objectives of the Africa Gender Index
The goal of AGI is to provide member States with a comprehensive, yet easy to use gender policy making and accountability tool to gauge progress on gender equality. The aim is to promote acceler- ated implementation of global and regional gender equality commitments including the SDGs, Agenda
2063, and the Bank “High 55” Agenda, which aims to bring gender perspective into the Bank’s five priority areas to-light up and power Africa, feed Africa, integrate Africa, industrialize Africa, and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
Specific objectives of the AGI
Specifically, the objectives of the AGI are to: • Institutionalize the collection and use of gender
statistics at national and local levels; • Respond to limited availability of gender statis-
tics by providing countries with a concise measure to assess progress on gender equality commitments;
• Serve as an advocacy tool to support countries’ policy actions towards greater positive change on women’s and girls’ lives;
• Serve as a tool for evidence-based planning, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes aimed at advancing gender equality;
• Profile gender statistics in Africa’s on-going data revolution processes; and
• Support the realization of an equitable transformation of Africa’s economies and the continent’s sustainable and inclusive development.
The rest of the report is divided into five sections and structured as follows: Section 2 presents the conceptual framework, the dimensions of the AGI and indicators measuring them as well as procedures for imputing missing data. Section 3 details out the methodological procedure for calculating the AGI, main findings and some results of robustness analysis. Section 4 examines the legal and policy context to deepen the understanding of the index main findings, while Section 5 analyzes some women specifics indicators in the context of the AGI. Section 6 presents the conclusion from the analysis and provides some policy recommenda- tions.
5 The Bank’s five priority operational areas are the following: Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa,
A sound conceptual framework is the starting point to constructing any composite index. It defines the phenomenon being measured and its sub-components, individual indicators and weights that reflect their relative importance, and the dimensions of the overall composite index. Getting the conceptual framework right is therefore the first step towards constructing a good index.
The conceptual framework for the AGI is under- pinned by a people centered approach, placing the African population-women and girls, men and boys- at the centre of policy actions for Africa’s structural transformation and the recognition that gender equality is a human right issue. It is also informed by Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach-potential "functionings" which focuses on expansion of free- doms and choices and the opportunities that women and men have to lead the lives that they have reason to value-what Sen refers to as ''doings and beings.'' This is because key elements of human life is a combination of "functionings" to live a life free from hunger and poverty, to escape morbidity and early death, be educated and be able to participate in the life of one’s community. Thus, there are economic, social, political and institutional; as well as environmental dimensions of gender inequality. The rationale behind the index is to evaluate women and men’s "functionings" and their capability to function, as a central part of development analysis focusing on these key dimensions.
The development of the AGI is also grounded in the policy and academic literature on composite indices construction developed over the past 20 years and summarized in OECD Handbook on Construct- ing Composite Indicators: Methodology and User Guide, published in 2008.
The following principles will guide the construction of the AGI: • Human rights principles-equity and justice; • Africa’s Agenda 2063 with gender equality being
a key goal; • A prosperous Africa, based on inclusive growth
and sustainable development; and • A holistic measure that cuts across the economic,
social, civil and political spheres of Africa’s development
2.1 Dimensions of the Africa Gender Index The AGI avoids the temptation of putting too many dimensions and indicators into one index making interpretation difficult and limiting its policy relevance. The index focuses on measuring gender inequalities (gaps) in key capabilities for elementary "functionings" without which other aspects of human progress would be difficult to attain. The AGI has three dimensions-economic, social, and empowerment and representation (both political and institutional). The economic dimension assesses whether women and men have equal economic opportunities. It measures gender inequalities in labour market participation, wages and incomes, business ownership and access to productive resources.
The social dimension measures gaps in access to education and health services. It seeks to assess whether girls and boys have equal educational opportunities; the pre-requisite levels of education to function as active members of their communities and that they have equal opportunity to lead healthy lives.
The empowerment and representation dimension measures the extent to which women and men participate in their country’s decision-making processes and organs, and whether women and men are represented in political institutions equitably.
The index measures the current state of gender inequalities. As such, the indicators measuring each dimension are largely, flow variables that respond quickly to policy interventions.
2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE AFRICA GENDER INDEX
2.2 Criteria for Indicator Selection
The strengths and weaknesses of composite indicators largely depend on the quality of the underlying indicators. Selection of indicators for the AGI is premised on four main principles-analytical soundness, measurability, country coverage, and relevance of the indicators to the phenomenon being measured and relationship to each other. While
the theoretical framework guides the choice of indicators for the AGI, the indicator selection process is also influenced by what is available. Given the paucity of relevant cross-country comparable data adequately measuring each dimension, the choice of indicators is somehow subjective. Notwithstand- ing, the chosen indicators are the best ones that are available at national and international levels. Data used for the construction of the index are the most recent available for the periods 2009 to 2019.
The dimensions and indicators measuring them are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Summary Dimensions, sub-dimensions and indicators measuring them and their sources Dimension Sub-component Sub category Sources of Data
Economic
Labour market participation and outcomes
Employment to population ratio 25+
Labour force surveys (LFS) or other households surveys including DHS for countries with no other sources
Labour force participation rate 15+
Paid employment as a proportion of total employment
Employment rate in the informal economy
Vulnerable employment Youth unemployment rate (15-24) Time use in unpaid work
Time use surveys Time use in paid work
Wages and salaries from all sectors, including Incomes from household enterprises in the formal and informal sectors
NSS based on data from LFS, Household income and expendi- ture surveys, Integrated House- hold Surveys, Enterprise surveys, Social security funds, Civil ser- vants registries
Access to resources
Access to credit from formal and informal financial institutions
Integrated household surveys, Financial sector surveys, Informal sector surveys, Word Bank Findex Data (http://datatopics.worldbank.org/financialinclusion/)
Management
Shares in top management of businesses Enterprise surveys/World Bank
Shares of senior officials and managers National Population Censuses (PC) Labour force surveys and ILO
Table 2: Summary Dimensions, sub-dimensions and indicators measuring them and their sources Dimension Sub-component Sub category Sources of Data
Social
Education
Completion rates in Primary, lower secondary, upper secondary schools NSS, Ministries of Education, UIS
Tertiary graduation rate
Tertiary graduation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) NSS, UIS
Out of school children (OOSC)
Youth not in Employment, education or training NSS, ILO
Health
Malnutrition among children
Ministerial positions Female and male shares NSS, IPU, UN Women
Land and House ownership Female and male shares DHS or other household surveys
Proportion of firms with female top manager
Female and male shares LFS, PC
Managers, professionals, technicians
1515
DHS: Demographic and Health Survey; LFS: Labour Force Survey; LSMS: Living Standard Measurement Study
2.3 Definition of Indicators
As composite measures often rank countries based on the values of the index, data used for their construction therefore have to be comparable across countries.
While the index will rely mostly on national data, indicators measuring each sub-component will as much as possible, be defined uniformly across countries to enhance comparability. Table 3 presents the definition of each indicator.
Table 3: Indicators and their definitions Indicator Definition
Access to micro and commercial credit
percentage of persons aged 15+, who report borrowing any money from a bank, credit union, microfinance institution, or another financial institution such as a cooperative.
Completion rate (primary, lower secondary and upper secondary)
The number of persons in the relevant age group who have completed the last grade of the given level of education expressed as a percentage of the total population of the same age group.
Employees as a proportion of total employment
Employees are all those workers who hold paid employment jobs, which are those where the incumbents hold employment contracts, which give them a basic remuneration not directly dependent upon the revenue of the unit for which they work expressed as a percentage of total employment.
Employment in the informal economy Note: Finally this indicator was not used in the computation of the AGI, being somehow redundant with vulnerable employment
Informal employment is a job-based concept and encompasses those jobs that generally lack basic social or legal protections or employment benefits. They comprises persons who in their main job were: (a) own-account workers, employers or members of producers’ cooperatives employed in their own informal sector enterprises; (b) own-account workers engaged in the production of goods exclusively for own final use by their household; (c) contributing family workers, irrespective of whether they work in formal or informal sector enterprises; or (d) employees holding informal jobs, whether employed by formal sector enterprises, informal sector enterprises, or as paid domestic workers by households.
Employment to population ratio Proportion of a country’s working-age population that is employed
Graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Successful completion of tertiary educational programme in Science or technology or engineering or mathematics
Labour force participation rate The proportion of a country’s working-age population that engages actively in the labour market, by either working or looking for work. Labour force data do not take into account workers employed abroad.
Land ownership Proportion of females and of males who own land
Life expectancy at birth Number of years a new born infant could expect to live if prevailing patterns of age-specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s life.
Managers, professionals and Tech- nicians
Share of positions defined according to the International Standard Classi- fication of Occupation (ISCO) to managers, professional and technicians. They include senior government officials, chief executive officers, etc.
Ministerial position
Number of people holding ministerial portfolios or equivalent positions in the government disaggregated by sex. Prime Ministers/Heads of Govern- ment are also included when they hold ministerial portfolios. Vice-Presi- dents and heads of governmental or public agencies are not included.
Out of school children Children in the official school age range for a specific level of education who are not enrolled in schools..
Participation in firm ownership percentage of firms with a woman (also man) among the principal owners.
Proportion of firms with female top manager
percentage of firms in the private sector who have females (also males) as top managers. Top manager refers to the highest-ranking manager or CEO of the establishment. This person may be the owner if he/she works as the manager of the firm.
Stunted children (moderate or severe)
percentage of children aged 0-59 months that are below minus two standard deviations from median height-for-age of the WHO Child Growth Stan- dards.
Tertiary graduation rate
Successful completion of tertiary educational programme. Note that it is possible for a single graduate to have more than one graduation (even within the same academic year) if they were enrolled simultaneously in two or more programmes and successfully completed them.
Time spent in paid work The amount of time an individual spends on a typical day in paid economic activities.
Time spent in unpaid care work The amount of time an individual spends on a typical day on unpaid care and domestic work (including for other households, i.e community services or volunteering)
Vulnerable employment as a percentage of total employment
Employed persons engaged as unpaid family workers and own account workers expressed as a percentage of total employment.
Wage in formal sector
It is a fixed regular payment, made by an employer to an employee in the formal sector. The formal sector encompasses all jobs with normal hours and regular wages, and are recognized as income sources on which income taxes must be paid
Wages in agriculture It is earnings from agricultural related activities
Youth unemployment percentage of the labour force population aged 15-24 that is not in paid employment or self-employed but is available for work and has taken steps to seek paid employment or self-employment.
Youth Literacy rate
percentage of people aged 15 to 24 years who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. Generally, "literacy" also encompasses "numeracy", the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations.
Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET rate)
It is the share of youth aged 15-24 who are not in employment, education or training, which is a broad measure of untapped potential of youth.
2.4 Imputation of Missing Data
Missing data can introduce bias and make the han- dling and analysis of the data difficult. This is particularly problematic when constructing a composite index to compare countries’ progress on gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. It reduces the representativeness of the data. Impu- tation is a way to avoid deletion of cases that are missing values for some of the indicators used for construction of the index.
In constructing the AGI, four approaches were adopted to deal with missing data. The first involves replacing any missing value with the mean of that variable for all other cases. This has the advantage of not changing the sample mean for that variable. The second is what is known as hot-deck imputation-that is filling in missing data with individual data, drawn from countries with ''similar'' charac- teristics. For example, missing values for wage gap may be replaced with that of another country with similar economic growth, educational attainment, literacy level and size of informal sector or predict- ed from regression analysis. The third approach is regression imputation and the final approach is the "cold-deck" approach-that is replacing missing data with estimates from a different source. The purpose of imputation is to help include as many countries as possible in the AGI.
2.5 Limitations of the AGI
As stated earlier, the concept of gender is broad and the AGI does not cover all its dimensions. There are important dimensions not covered due to data paucity. In particular, while there is a better understanding of the importance of time use in thinking about well-being, time use data are not regularly collected and data are available for only a limited number of countries. As such, time use is not included in the construction of the AGI. However given its particular importance, the issue that this indicator highlights has been addressed in some details
in this report and data have been provided for the countries having carried out such surveys.
The same holds true for ownership of economic assets, for ''Out of School Children'' (OOSC), Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Neither in Employment nor in Education or Training (NEET) despite their crucial importance. For a number of countries we have had to impute values for these indicators. In fact, estimates had to be made for a number of countries with regards to indicators measuring the economic dimension. The database however contains all real values for these indicators, where available.
For participation in decision-making, some community level indicators would have been useful, but cross-country comparable data are not available. Likewise, a gender breakdown of electoral turnout is available for only a handful of countries. Hence, it remains very difficult to capture the political representation and economic participation of women and men. Readers are therefore urged to complement the analysis of the index with other relevant indicators such as of monetary and non-monetary measures of poverty for a broader picture of the magnitude of gender inequality.
The index adopts equal weighting to emphasize that all the dimensions are equally important.
Lastly, the data used in the construction of the index are largely supplied by National Statistical Offic- es. While indicators have been defined in a standard manner, the reference periods for a number of the indicators vary across countries. As such, we have avoided ranking countries based on the index values but rather encourage countries to use the information for advocacy at the national level, including promoting the production of relevant and timely gender disaggregated statistics.
There are four main steps to constructing the Africa Gender Index. In what follows we describe each of the steps.
3.1 Step 1: Normalizing variables
The underlying indicators for the AGI are measured in different units. In order to combine them into an index, they have to be normalized into a scale ly- ing between zero and one using natural or defined minimum and maximum values or goalposts. How- ever, normalization is sensitive to both the choice of limits and outliers at both ends of the distribution of indicators across countries. For example, outliers may become unintended thresholds and introduce spurious variability in the data if care is not taken. We have used goalposts to reduce spurious variability in the index. Values higher than the natural maximum goalpost have been capped at the maximum value. The goalposts are fixed for a period of five years to allow progress to be monitored. How- ever, using the exact minimum values means that, a country with that value will have a zero index value.
This will create a problem for geometric mean aggregation method adopted for the AGI. As such, a value of 0.4 is subtracted from the observed minimum values and 0.5 added to the maximum value if the value is less than the highest possible level. For example, in the case of completion rates by level of education, if the highest value is 100 % all students complete.
The same minimum and maximum values are used for both males and females (except for life expectancy at birth where different values are used because of women’s natural advantage over men in terms of longevity). Using the same values for women and men ensures a fair spread of the distribution of the sub-indices and avoids giving a false impression that females are doing better when in fact, the highest aspiration is far below that of males.
Thus, indicators will be normalized as follows:
Normalized value of indicator = 1actual value –minimum value maximum value –minimum value
Since the aim is to measure progress, deprivation indicators are normalized as:
Indicator index = 1- actual value –minimum value maximum value –minimum value
3. CALCULATING THE AFRICA GENDER INDEX
Normalized value of indicator = 1-
Indicator index = 1-
3.2 Step 2: Aggregating within dimensions
A common way to aggregate the sub-dimensions into sub-indices is by arithmetic or geometric mean. While the arithmetic method of aggregation is useful when all individual indicators have the same measurement unit, geometric mean of aggregation is better if one wants some degree of non-compensability between dimensions. This is to stress that all the dimensions making up the index are equally important and a poor performance in one dimension cannot be fully compensated for by a good performance in another. Further, geometric mean aggregations reward those countries with higher scores in all dimensions.
In arithmetic method of aggregation, good performance in one dimension can be compensated fully by poor performance in another. In other words, there is perfect substitutability, while with geometric aggregations; compensability is lower for the indicators with low values. Therefore, the marginal utility from an increase in low absolute score would be much higher than in a high absolute score under geometric mean aggregation. Consequently, a country would have a greater incentive to address those dimensions with low scores if the aggregation were geometric rather than arithmetic. In this regard, the AGI adopts geometric mean of aggregation both within dimensions and across dimensions.
Table 3.1: Goalposts for normalizing indicators Indicator Minimum value Maximum value Access to micro and commercial credit 0.25 21.8 Completion rate-Primary 6.1 100.0 Completion rate-Lower Sec 3.7 100.0 Completion rate-Upper Sec 1.2 58.1 Graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 15.1 83.2 Graduation rate-Tertiary 1.4 87.3 Employment-to-population ratio 15.6 94.7 Land ownership 0.6 100 Labour force participation rate 16.6 93.3 Life expectancy at birth (female) 52.54 78.96 Life expectancy at birth (male) 49.6 77.6 Managers, professionals and Technicians 5.6 91.3 Ministerial position 9.6 89.5 Out-of-School Children 5.6 66.3 Participation in firm ownership 3.0 97.1 Proportion of firms with female top manager 3.0 97.1 Stunted children (moderate or severe) 8.4 62.2 Vulnerable employment as a % of total employment 4.8 97.3 Wage (all sectors) 7.5 91.6 Youth unemployment rate 1.1 86.5 Youth Literacy rate 14.7 99.9 Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET rate) 1.2 43.1
*For deprivation indicators, higher values represent poor performance. These indicators are normalized as a residual to give it a positive twist
20
The goalpost for each indicator is presented in Table 3.1.
3.3 Step 3: Calculating the dimension gender gap
The next step is to calculate the gender gap in each dimension as follows:
Dimension gender gap = Dimension Indexf
Dimension indexm
where subscript f and m represent female and male achievements.
3.4 Step 4: Aggregating across dimensions
The final stage of the index construction process is aggregating the dimension gaps using geometric mean.
As stated earlier, the use of geometric mean of aggregation is to stress the importance of each of the dimensions. This means that the index will reward countries with good performance across all the dimensions and penalize those with uneven performance across dimensions.
The AGI is given as follows:
AGI = Economic dimension gender gap1/3*social development gender gaps1/3*Empowerment and Representation gender gap1/3
Schematic presentation of the index calculation process is shown in Figure 1
21AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
Dimension gender gap =
Figure 1 : Schematic Presentation of the index calculation process
4. MAIN FINDINGS 4.1 Africa Gender Index and Component Indices Gap
Overall, 51 out of the 54 African countries are included in the index using data from national and international data sources and imputing values for missing data. Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan are not included because they are missing too many of the indicators.
Table 3.2 presents the index values and the gender gaps in the three dimensions-the closer a value is to one, the better a country’s performance.
Generally, women lag behind men in all the three dimensions but there are very few exceptions. Women do better than men in the social dimension component. In a number of countries, more females are completing schools than males and more boys stunted than girls are. The female achievement in the social dimension is also due to the bridging gender gap in HIV prevalence rate and female advantage in life expectancy at birth. Wom- en perform poorly in the Empowerment and Rep- resentation dimension in all countries.
Gender gaps in the social dimension of the AGI are relatively smaller. In fact, in about 41 % of countries included in the AGI, females do better than males in the social dimension. However, females lag seri- ously behind males in the two other dimensions.
The gender gaps are more pronounced in the political and institutional representation dimension. These gaps are discussed in detail under sub-section 3.2 (see Table 3.2).
Performance gaps between the top 10 and bottom 10 countries are staggering. For example, the bottom 10 countries have AGI values that are about half or less that of the values for the top four countries. There is only one Western African country in the Top 10 AGI countries. In contrast, there are more West African countries in the bottom 10 countries than other sub-regions.
Country
Value Gender gaps 2019 2009-2019b 2009-2019b
Algeria 0.364 0.353 1.123 0.122 Angola 0.567 0.700 1.022 0.255 Benin 0.433 0.728 0.776 0.144 Botswana 0.537 0.886 0.988 0.177 Burkina Faso 0.384 0.623 0.871 0.105
Burundi 0.538 0.527 1.071 0.275 Cabo Verde 0.655 0.706 0.880 0.453 Cameroon 0.459 0.662 0.667 0.219 Central African Republic 0.381 0.811 0.703 0.097 Chad 0.264 0.185 0.634 0.157 Comoros 0.240 0.633 0.943 0.023 Congo 0.410 0.509 1.034 0.130 Congo Democratic Republic 0.373 0.613 0.963 0.088
Côte d’Ivoire 0.409 0.746 0.833 0.110 Egypt 0.353 0.459 1.008 0.095 Eritrea 0.412 0.476 0.888 0.166 Ethiopia 0.487 0.542 0.863 0.247 Gabon 0.456 0.713 1.013 0.131 Gambia 0.353 0.322 1.037 0.132 Ghana 0.517 0.674 0.984 0.208 Guinea 0.512 0.693 0.719 0.270 Guinea Bissau 0.446 0.631 0.855 0.164
Kenya 0.522 0.703 1.001 0.203 Lesotho 0.776 0.790 1.281 0.463 Liberia 0.506 0.666 0.884 0.220 Libya 0.416 0.450 1.038 0.154 Madagascar 0.630 0.795 1.089 0.289 Malawi 0.524 0.661 0.800 0.273 Mali 0.329 0.473 0.785 0.096 Mauritania 0.311 0.425 0.966 0.074 Mauritius 0.455 0.654 1.223 0.118
Morocco 0.426 0.375 1.108 0.187
Mozambique 0.649 0.640 0.955 0.447
Namibia 0.797 0.792 1.294 0.494
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Country
Niger 0.320 0.510 0.548 0.117 Nigeria 0.372 0.627 0.952 0.086 Rwanda 0.761 0.662 1.064 0.626 Sao Tome and Principe 0.494 0.671 0.972 0.184 Senegal 0.504 0.666 0.863 0.222 Seychelles 0.738 0.832 1.071 0.451 Sierra Leone 0.328 0.437 0.691 0.117
Somalia 0.387 0.472 0.980 0.125 South Africa 0.768 0.686 1.062 0.621 Sudan 0.316 0.389 1.054 0.077 Eswatini 0.442 0.739 0.689 0.170 Togo 0.401 0.637 1.083 0.094 Tunisia 0.630 0.657 1.205 0.315 Uganda 0.613 0.663 0.916 0.379 United Republic of Tanzania 0.618 0.507 0.965 0.482 Zambia 0.624 0.645 1.072 0.351 Zimbabwe 0.676 0.693 0.986 0.452
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4.2 Robustness Analysis
To defend the objectivity of the index uncertainty analysis is done to test its robustness of the AGI. This will help to improve the transparency and ac- ceptability of the index. The purpose will be to assess how uncertainty in the underlying variables transmits through the structure of the index and affects its values. The following approach will be adopted to assess uncertainties:
Inclusion and exclusion of individual indicators will be undertaken to assess whether any particular indicator has undue influence in determining the level of gender inequality.
• Using alternative data normalization procedures to see the extent to which country rankings change; and
• Using different aggregation methodology In all, three approaches were tested-using aspirational maximum goalposts adopting arithmetic within dimension and geometric across dimensions and using geometric aggregation both within and across dimensions. While the index values change a bit with the different aggregation methods country ranking remained consistent.
The results of two aggregating methods - aggregating sub-indices gaps and aggregating dimension gaps using geometric method- is presented in Figure 3.4. The AGI adopted measuring gender gaps at sub-indices level. As can be seen from the figure. the AGI values remain unchanged for a majority of the countries.
Notes:
a. The index is constructed based on data mainly supplied by National Statistical Offices. In some cases timates from international data sources have been used or estimates made by the authors where data are missing. b. Data are the most recent available for the period specified
4.3 Dimension Gap Analysis
Analyzing the AGI from the angle of individual dimensions reveals some interesting dynamics. For example, while African women and girls appear to be doing better in educational attainment-including tertiary level-in a number of countries, this has not been translated into gender equality in labour market outcomes. At the level of the continent, the gender wage/salary gap from all sectors is about 26 %.
This is higher than the global average of around 23%. UN Women underscores that if action is not taken now, it might take another 68 years to bridge the gender wage gap globally6. This is partly attributable to labour market segmentation, which is a persistent source of economic disadvantage for women discriminatory social norms and women’s disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work. For example, women’s share of time use for unpaid care and domestic work ranges from 66.6 % in Cabo Verde to nearly 92 % in Mali7.
Fewer women own businesses than men do and women are more likely to be in precarious jobs. For example, female to male ratio in "not in vulnerable employment" (the reverse of being in vulnerable
employment) is less than 0.1 in Guinea, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. It is less than 50 % (0.5) for 41.2 % of the countries in the region. However, more than one quarter of countries the reverse holds true. In Algeria Cameroon Comoros Libya Mauritius. Morocco Namibia Senegal Seychelles South Africa. Somalia Sudan and Tunisia more men are in precarious jobs (see Table 3.3 and 3.4 a).
The health sub-dimension shows that boys under the age of five are more likely to suffer malnutrition- the gender gap ranges from 0.868 in Guinea to 3.500 in Burundi. On the other hand, women are more likely to be infected with HIV than men are (see Table 3.4 b).
Empowerment and Representative Dimension
Women’s limited political participation. institutional representation and participation in decision - making continue to persist due to historical discrimination practices such as gender segregation of occupation. The gender gaps in the empowerment and representation dimension of the AGI are striking. especially in top management position in firms (see Table 3.5). Affirmative action remains the most vital option to bridge the gender gaps in this dimension.
6 UN Women 2018. 7 Charmes 2019.
0.200 0.300 0.400 0.500 0.600 0.700 0.800 0.900
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORTAFRICA GENDER INDEX REPORT 2019
4.4 Climate change impact on the wellbeing of women and men
It would have been desirable to incorporate a climate change-energy dimension into the AGI, but lack of gender-disaggregated data on climate change and access to energy has not made it possible to do so. However, the report does not lose sight of the fact that negative impacts of climate could erode the progress made in bridging the gender gap in the social dimension, and to some extent, the economic dimensions of the AGI.
The adverse effects of climate change are already being felt in Africa. Agricultural productivity and food security, reduced biodiversity and ecosys- tems and water resources are some of the areas where climate change impacts are being felt. For example, the effects of the 2010-2012 droughts on food security in the Horn of Africa are well known. Scientific forecast indicates that warming in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to be above global average. The implication is that water availability for livelihood will be limited because of frequent droughts and changes in rainfall patterns. Where livelihood systems are tied to rainfall.
Rainfall variability trails household incomes and sustainability of livelihoods.
There is a differentiated impact of climate change There is a differentiated impact of climate change effects on women and men. In most countries food processing, water and firewood collection are traditional female gender roles. Women’s livelihood strategies are also disproportionately linked to the natural resources sector-crop production, collection of forestry products and the post-harvest fisheries sector.
With increased droughts and desertification, women will have to walk longer distances to collect water and firewood, leaving them with little time to engage in economic activities. One study in Tanzania for example, indicates that the amount of time females spend collecting water and fuel wood is up to 250 hours and 700 hours per person per year respectively. Distance to fuel wood sources could be up to five kilometres. Sometimes girls have to forgo their education to fetch wood for the family, trapping them in inter-generational poverty.
Climate shocks also affect women’s livelihoods by wiping out crops, reducing opportunities for employment, pushing up food prices and de- stroying property. Unless deliberate policies are put in place, gender gaps in labour markets outcomes including wages would be wider with serious implications not just for women but also for families and society as a whole.
4.5 Gender Equality and Women’s Reproductive Health
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4.5.1 Introduction
Gender norms, roles and power relations can influence health outcomes and affect women’s attainment of mental, physical and reproductive health. Gender inequality limits access to quality health services and contributes to avoidable morbidity and mortality rates in women throughout the life- course. The World Health Organization (WHO) ac- knowledges that gender is an important determi- nant of health in two ways:
• gender inequality leads to health risks for women and girls globally; and
• addressing gender norms and roles leads to a better understanding of how the social construction of identity and unbalanced power relations between men and women affect the risks, health-seeking behaviour and health outcomes of men and women.
Generally, women are accorded low status and are held back by societal perceptions of a woman’s role. Thus, limiting the choices they are able to make. Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are essential for women to have the number of children they want, when they want them and to deliver their babies safely and have healthy new born babies. However, the decision to choose is often entangled in a web of gender power relations and safe motherhood not given the priority it de- serves.
Violence against women is another challenge to the realization of women’s right to live dignified lives. It is a complex phenomenon shaped by forces that operate at the individual, relationship, community and societal levels. In all societies, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across income, class and ethnic lines. Key contributing factors to this state of affairs include but are not limited to cultural norms that support male dominance over women, low educational levels of men and women, and policies and laws that discriminate against women.
4.5.2 Women’s reproductive health issues
The AGI assesses gender gaps in three dimensions. While women specific indicators are important, including them in the index will introduce conceptual flaws. However, analyzing some women’s specific indicators that are impacted by gender power relations and entrenched discriminations based on gender is useful. This section will examine the following women reproductive health issues:
• Adolescent pregnancies and birth • Unmet need for family planning • Use of modern contraceptive methods • Skilled attendants of births • Fertility rate for women aged 20-24 • Prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting • Violence against women • Maternal deaths; and • Early marriages.
4.5.3 Early marriages
In a number of African countries, marriages (sometimes forced) begin early and lengthen the period of fertility. Contraceptive prevalence rate is low yet there is a high unmet need for family planning. Early marriage and childbirth not only compromise the health of the mother and child but also limit future opportunities. Studies have shown that the risk of death during childbirth is five times higher in teenage births, in part because their bodies are not fully developed11. Early childbearing also tends to prevent girls from achieving higher levels of education. This often destines them to low-skilled jobs at best, intensifying the socio-economic disadvantages faced by women and inter-generational trans- mission of poverty.
In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 12% of girls in the age group 20-24 years were married by the time they were 15 years old. and 38 % by age 18. Early marriage is more common in Western and Central Af- rica where over 41 % of young women aged 20-24 years were married by their 18 birthday.
11 Rowbottom, S. (2007).
Teenage pregnancies, births, and births to moth- ers aged 20-24 years are also high, ranging from 0.5 % in Tunisia to 21.6 % in Zimbabwe; and 17.1 births and 338 births per 1.000 women aged 20-24 years in Seychelles and Niger respectively. Contra- ceptives prevalence among young women is unacceptably low in a number of countries. While skilled attendants of births are at acceptable levels in a number of countries, there is room for improvement. For example, only about one-third or less of births to young women aged 15-24 year in Ethio- pia, Niger, Nigeria and South Sudan are assisted by skilled health personnel. The corresponding figure for Guinea is less than half 46.6 %.
4.5.4 Maternal deaths
Maternal deaths are unacceptably high in a number of countries, ranging from a low of 9 per 100,000 live births in Libya to a high of 1360 per 100,000 live births in Sierra Leone. Yet maternal deaths are preventable. Women die because of complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these complications develop during pregnancy and most are preventable or treatable if women seek health care on time. For example, severe bleeding after birth can kill a healthy woman within hours if she is unattended. Injecting oxytocin immediately after childbirth effectively reduces the risk of bleeding. However, poverty, long distances to health facilities, lack of information, inadequate services and negative cultural practices continue to pose a challenge to safe motherhood.
In fact, in sub-Saharan Africa, the lifetime risk of maternal death - that is the probability of becom- ing pregnant and of dying because pregnancy, which accumulates across a woman’s reproductive years - is 1 in 36 women. The corresponding figures for other regions are-1 in 200 women in South Asia, 1 in 930 in East Asia and the Pacific, 1 in 4100 in North America and 1 in 9.600 in Western Europe12.
4.5.5 Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a form of violence against women and girls. It is an ex- treme violation of the human rights of women and
girls, a danger to sexual and reproductive health. In spite of the serious health implications and the psychological trauma associated with it, the practice continues to persist in a number of countries. At least three-quarters of young women aged 15-24 in Egypt, Gambia and Guinea have undergone FGM/C (see Table 5.1).
In recent years, a number of countries have issued legislations banning the practice, but sustained advocacy is needed to strike a balance between knowledge of the dangers of the practice and atti- tudinal change.
4.5.6 Intimate partner violence
Violence directed at women is often based on so- cially defined norms of masculinity and femininity. It includes physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, threats, coercion, arbitrary deprivation of liberty and economic deprivation13. Violence against women is rooted in structural inequalities between men and women. It is rights violation, a public health challenge, and a barrier to civic, social, political, and economic participation of women. It undermines not only the safety, dignity, overall health status, and human rights of women who experience it, but also the public health, economic stability, and security of nations.
Unfortunately, data on domestic violence are not frequently collected and only a handful of Afri- can countries have data. Only 18 of the 54 African countries have data on violence perpetuated by an intimate partner. The data covers the experiences of women aged 15-34 years in the last 12 years preceding the surveys from which the data are compiled.
Prevalence of intimate partner sexual and physical violence ranges from 10.9 % in Mauritania to 38.9 % in Zimbabwe (see Table 5.1).
The health consequences of domestic violence can be particularly serious. Survivors may suffer a wide range of other physical injuries. Psychological, emotional and social consequences can be equally severe-post-traumatic stress. depression, fear, or anxiety and social stigma are some of the consequences.
12 UNICEF (2017) State of the World Children’s Report Statistical Table 7 13 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993)
CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATION While there has been progress towards bridging gender gaps, women continue to lag behind men especially in economic and empowerment dimensions of the AGI. Women are caught in a web of deprivations and limited opportunities that rein- force each other to keep them in economic and social disadvantages. Sex segregation of occupation intersects with other discriminatory practices to shape women’s economic disadvantages. Increas- ing female education has not had the expected effect on employment opportunities in high-end positions for women. Women’s work is often under-valued; they are over-represented in clerical work and elementary occupations, which attract low remuneration.
Women’s unpaid care and domestic work respon- sibilities also have huge implications for women’s labour market outcomes, as they tend to be in the informal sector where they can combine childcare and paid work. This is in spite of the fact that unpaid care and domestic work play an important role in families and subsidises public care costs while constraining women’s employment options. Men disproportionately hold parliamentary representation. ministerial positions and other decision-making positions. Without adequate representation of women. women-specific issues may be relegated to the background or at best attract low priority.
While a conducive legal and policy environment exists in a number of countries for gender equality. there appears to be a lag in implementation. Adap- tive preference resulting in entrenched discriminatory practices and traditional concepts of femininity also prevent women from taking advantage of existing laws.
Finally, limited availability of policy relevant gender statistics poses a challenge including some very important aspects of gender inequality in the AGI.
Gender equality is critical for the achievement of the SDGs as well as Africa’s transformation agenda. It will therefore be to the advantage of African governments to implement and enforce existing policies and legislation and to enact new ones where they are lacking.
For example, paid maternity leave and public provision of childcare services are important for women’s labour force participation. Work place provision of childcare services is inexpensive and is mutually beneficial to both workers and employers. Minimum wage legislation is another important avenue to bridge gender gap in earnings.
To accelerate the achievement of the goal on gender equality, African governments should consider taking affirmative action to increase participation of women in top decision-making positions. Coun- tries that are yet to achieve the 30 % female quote should intensify their efforts to achieve that.
Efforts should also be made to reduce its drudgery through provision of services such as access to water within reasonable distance, access to modern energy and access to modern energy technologies and services. Unpaid care work also needs to be redistributed more equally, between women and men, and between households and society. Pub- lic action is needed to create decent jobs, support women to take up employment opportunities and empower them to shape their working environ- ments.
Tables of results
Average gender gap in dimensions
Country
Algeria 0.364 0.353 1.123 0.122 Angola 0.567 0.700 1.022 0.255 Benin 0.433 0.728 0.776 0.144 Botswana 0.537 0.886 0.988 0.177 Burkina Faso 0.384 0.623 0.871 0.105 Burundi 0.538 0.527 1.071 0.275 Cabo Verde 0.655 0.706 0.880 0.453 Cameroon 0.459 0.662 0.667 0.219 Central African Republic 0.381 0.811 0.703 0.097 Chad 0.264 0.185 0.634 0.157 Comoros 0.240 0.633 0.943 0.023 Congo 0.410 0.509 1.034 0.130 Congo Democratic Republic 0.373 0.613 0.963 0.088
Côte d’Ivoire 0.409 0.746 0.833 0.110 Egypt 0.353 0.459 1.008 0.095 Eritrea 0.412 0.476 0.888 0.166 Ethiopia 0.487 0.542 0.863 0.247 Gabon 0.456 0.713 1.013 0.131 Gambia 0.353 0.322 1.037 0.132 Ghana 0.517 0.674 0.984 0.208 Guinea 0.512 0.693 0.719 0.270 Guinea Bissau 0.446 0.631 0.855 0.164 Kenya 0.522 0.703 1.001 0.203 Lesotho 0.776 0.790 1.281 0.463 Liberia 0.506 0.666 0.884 0.220 Libya 0.416 0.450 1.038 0.154 Madagascar 0.630 0.795 1.089 0.289 Malawi 0.524 0.661 0.800 0.273 Mali 0.329 0.473 0.785 0.096 Mauritania 0.311 0.425 0.966 0.074 Mauritius 0.455 0.654 1.223 0.118 Morocco 0.426 0.375 1.108 0.187 Mozambique 0.649 0.640 0.955 0.447 Namibia 0.797 0.792 1.294 0.494 Niger 0.320 0.510 0.548 0.117
Average gender gap in dimensions
Country
Sao Tome and Principe 0.494 0.671 0.972 0.184
Senegal 0.504 0.666 0.863 0.222
Seychelles 0.738 0.832 1.071 0.451
Sierra Leone 0.328 0.437 0.691 0.117
Somalia 0.387 0.472 0.980 0.125
South Africa 0.768 0.686 1.062 0.621
Sudan 0.316 0.389 1.054 0.077
Swaziland 0.442 0.739 0.689 0.170
Togo 0.401 0.637 1.083 0.094
Tunisia 0.630 0.657 1.205 0.315
Uganda 0.613 0.663 0.916 0.379
United Republic of Tanzania 0.618 0.507 0.965 0.482
Zambia 0.624 0.645 1.072 0.351
Zimbabwe 0.676 0.693 0.986 0.452
Notes a. The index is constructed based on data mainly supplied by National Statistical Offices. In some cases estmates from international data sources have been used or estmates made by the authors where data are missins b. Data are the most recent available for the period specified
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Table 3.4b: Indicator gaps: Health Dimension
Country
Life expectancy at birth gap
Health Gaps
Algeria 0.994 1.041 0.989
Angola 0.970 1.935 1.383
Benin 0.994 1.129 1.070
Botswana 0.524 1.198 1.131 Burkina Faso 0.988 1.177 0.919 Burundi 0.983 3.500 1.274
Cabo Verde 0.982 1.113 1.117 Cameroon 0.865 1.129 0.966
Central African Republic 0.957 1.306 1.760 Chad 0.952 2.364 0.245
Comoros 0.953 1.139 1.111 Congo 0.892 1.047 2.006 Congo Democratic Republic 0.959 1.294 1.079
Côte d’Ivoire 0.882 1.197 1.094 Djibouti 0.976 1.138 1.273 Egypt 0.994 1.074 1.049 Equatorial Guinea 0.964 1.254 1.028
Eritrea 0.994 1.138 1.172 Ethiopia 0.983 1.287 1.173
Gabon 0.958 1.111 1.088 Gambia 0.971 1.097 1.271 Ghana 0.977 1.124 0.965 Guinea 0.941 0.868 1.079 Guinea Bissau 0.969 1.162 1.161 Kenya 0.881 1.228 1.076 Lesotho 0.666 1.424 1.642 Liberia 0.977 1.184 0.989 Libya 0.992 1.065 1.213 Madagascar 0.994 1.462 1.082 Malawi 0.861 1.155 1.273 Mali 0.982 1.209 0.886
NOTES a. Data are the most recent available during the period specified.
Country
Life expectancy at birth gap
Health Gaps
Mauritania 0.988 1.108 1.137
Mauritius 0.988 1.270 1.257
Morocco 0.994 1.121 1.076
Mozambique 0.525 1.240 1.673
Namibia 0.893 1.134 2.335
Niger 0.988 1.213 0.973
Nigeria 0.969 1.150 1.107
Rwanda 0.884 1.503 1.124
Senegal 0.988 1.068 1.132
Seychelles 0.994 1.038 0.933
Somalia 0.988 1.145 1.156
Sudan 0.988 1.189 1.090
Swaziland 0.050 1.227 1.688 Togo 0.965 1.035 1.838 Tunisia 0.994 1.049 1.255 Uganda 0.871 1.289 0.803
United Republic of Tanzania 0.904 1.176 0.978 Zambia 0.860 1.231 1.901
Zimbabwe 0.838 1.225 1.162
Table 3.5: Indicator gaps: Empowerment and Representation Dimension
Country
ownership)
Empowerment and representation dimension gender gaps
2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a
Algeria 0.598 0.218 0.073 0.274 0.023 Angola 0.326 0.391 0.272 0.246 0.122
Benin 0.202 0.021 0.128 0.150 0.791
Botswana 1.023 0.051 0.117 0.460 0.163 Burkina Faso 0.291 0.068 0.065 0.254 0.094
Burundi 0.167 0.598 0.359 0.237 0.160 Cabo Verde 0.873 0.257 1.021 0.232 0.184
Cameroon 0.216 0.366 0.112 0.365 0.261 Central African Re- public
0.181 0.037 0.128 0.251 0.104
Chad 0.335 0.125 0.143 0.268 0.103
Comoros 0.054 0.008 0.005 0.253 0.147
Congo 0.220 0.107 0.072 0.048 0.173 Congo Democratic Republic
0.180 0.032 0.117 0.060 0.088
Côte d’Ivoire 0.087 0.066 0.192 0.007 0.133
Djibouti 0.249 0.304 0.058 0.244 0.131
Egypt 0.265 0.120 0.131 0.275 0.020 Equatorial Guinea 0.114 0.165 0.022 0.217 0.144
Eritrea 0.567 0.229 0.117 0.266 0.050
Ethiopia 0.416 0.557 1.021 0.763 0.016 Gabon 0.146 0.155 0.135 0.253 0.096
Gambia 0.269 0.059 0.032 0.167 0.605 Ghana 0.672 0.090 0.221 0.242 0.141 Guinea 0.428 0.228 0.158 0.176 0.346 Guinea Bis- sau 0.176 0.103 0.143 0.245 0.281
Kenya 0.185 0.251 0.301 0.247 0.121
Lesotho 1.343 0.241 0.267 0.144 0.530
NOTES a. Data are the most recent available during the period specified.
Country
Cabinet Mi- nisters gap
ownership)
Empowerment and representation dimension gender gaps
2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a
Liberia 0.453 0.076 0.104 0.162 0.655 Libya 0.484 0.135 0.189 0.274 0.046
Madagascar 0.769 0.190 0.135 0.200 0.355 Malawi 0.561 0.145 0.117 0.247 0.583 Mali 0.117 0.041 0.180 0.179 0.098 Mauritania 0.042 0.200 0.221 0.276 0.016 Mauritius 0.751 0.075 0.026 0.345 0.135 Morocco 0.513 0.172 0.177 0.258 0.078 Mozambique 0.255 0.622 0.548 0.185 0.459 Namibia 1.065 0.626 0.212 0.056 0.422 Niger 0.102 0.149 0.146 0.222 0.085 Nigeria 0.153 0.005 0.116 0.159 0.691 Rwanda 0.555 1.291 1.021 0.269 0.210 Sao Tome and Principe 0.503 0.115 0.140 0.155 0.144
Senegal 0.162 0.690 0.168 0.245 0.130 Seychelles 1.271 0.216 1.021 0.232 0.147 Sierra Leone 0.224 0.085 0.221 0.267 0.044 Somalia 0.066 0.270 0.145 0.140 0.094 South Africa 0.822 0.679 0.722 0.233 0.369 South Sudan 0.368 0.311 0.834 0.260 0.072 Sudan 0.478 0.404 0.043 0.264 0.004 Swaziland 0.116 0.082 0.256 0.007 0.340 Togo 0.006 0.159 0.238 0.274 0.363 Tunisia 0.641 0.410 0.123 0.247 0.307 Uganda 0.553 0.480 0.525 0.240 0.147 United Re- public of Tanzania
0.446 0.554 0.570 0.272 0.383
Zambia 0.577 0.164 0.256 0.165 0.624 Zimbabwe 0.724 0.479 0.359 0.203 0.336
RESULTS BY REGIONAL ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES (RECS) AMU = Arab Maghreb Union: Algeria, Libya, Mauri- tania, Morocco and Tunisia
COMESA: Burundi, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethio- pia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
EAC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ugan- da and United Republic of Tanzania
ECCAS: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Afri- can Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo Democratic Re- public, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe
ECOWAS: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bis- sau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Le- one and Togo
SADC: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Congo Demo- cratic Republic, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Ma-
lawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Sahel G5: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Niger
Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe
East Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mada- gascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania
North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Mo- rocco, Sudan and Tunisia
Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Le- sotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe West Africa: Same as ECOWAS
B. Africa Gender Index by REC
B. Economic Dimension sub-Index
B. Empowerment & ParRcipaRon Dimension sub-Index
47AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
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To help understand the dynamics of gender equality and how it affects Africa’s development, the African Development Bank Group and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) are publishing the first Africa Gender Equality Index. The Index, which covers 51 of Africa’s 54 countries and draws together a large body of data, offers a snapshot of the economic, social and representation gaps between men and women.
Its findings will give African leaders, policymakers, economists and civil society the evidence they need to begin dismantling the barriers that prevent women from making a full contribution to the continent’s development. In addition, the report identifies five thematic areas where concerted action could make a real difference to women’s ability to contribute to, and benefit from, Africa’s development — areas that African countries, the Bank and UNECA can readily incorporate into national development strategies and investment programmes.
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