Social Institutions and Gender Equality
Indicators and Measurement Tools
Denis Drechsler
Johannes P. Jütting
OECD Development Centre
Rome December 2007
• OECD members and partners
• Research and policy
• Policy communities
• Different actors: private, public, etc.
A bridge between …
OECD’s Knowledge Centre on Development
Gender Equality: Intrinsic and instrumental values
• One of the Millennium Development Goals
• A neglected driver for economic growth
• A double dividend for OECD countries
• More sustainable growth in non-OECD countries
Gender equality has many dimensions…
Traditional Building Blocksof Gender Equality
Political Empowerment
EducationalAttainment
Health and Wellbeing
SocialInstitutions
Economic Participation
…and also involves social institutions
The OECD Data Base on Gender
Data on Social Institutions
GID-DBThe OECD Gender, Institutions
and Development Data Base
…and its innovation:
What are social institutions?
• Social institutions include norms, traditions and family law
• They may arguably be the most important determinants of gender equality:
– They have generally been in existence for centuries;
– They are extremely difficult to change; and
– They frequently override formal laws and regulations
• They are difficult to identify and measure
Traditi
ons
Social N
orms
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Religious Practices
Family Law
Educational Atta
inment
e.g. literacy rates
Political Empowerment,
e.g. voting rightsEconomic
Particip
ation
and Opportu
nity
e.g. labour fo
rce partic
ipation
Health and Survival,
e.g. life expectancy
How do social institutions fit in?
Gender Equality
12 innovative variables
Social Institutions Variables
• Early marriage
• Polygamy
• Parental authority
• Inheritance
• Freedom ofmovement
• Obligation to wear a veil in public
• Female genital mutilation
• Violence against women
• Missing women
• Access to land
• Access to bankloans
• Access toproperty
Ownership RightsCivil LibertiesPhysical IntegrityFamily Code
Gender inequality in social institutions
Elevated discrimination in social institutions
High discrimination in social institutions
Low discrimination in social institutions
Country not included
…not necessarily associated with per capita income
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
HIC (non OECD) LMC UMC HIC
Family Code Physical Integrity Civil Liberties Ownership Rights
Scale: 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum) = level of discrimination through social institutionsSource: GID Database
Social institutions and women in paid employment
ZWE
ZMB
YEM
VNM
VEN
URYUSAGBR
UAE
UKR
UGA
TUR
TUN
TGO
THA
TZA
SYR
CHE
SWE
SDN
LKAESP ZAF
SVK
SEN
SAU
RUS
ROUPRTPOL
PHL
PER
PRYPAN
PAK
OMN
NOR
NGA
NER
NIC
NZL
NLD
NPL
NAM
MMR
MOZ
MAR
MEXMUSMRT
MLTMLI
MYS
MWI
MDG
LUX
LBY
LBNKWT
KORKEN
JOR
JPNITA
ISRIRL
IRN
IDN
IND
ISL
HUN
HND
HTI
GNB
GRC
GHA
DEUFRA
FIN
FJI
ETH
EST
ERI
GNQ
SLV
EGY
ECU
DOM
DNKCZE
CUB
CIV
CRI
COL
CHNCHL
TCD
CAF
CAN
CMR
BFA
BGR
BRA BWA
BOL
BENBEL
BGD
BHR
AUT
AUSARMARG
AGO
DZA
ALB
020
40
60
0 .2 .4 .6 .8Institutions
Fitted values WWORKING (non-agri %)
Challenges to better data and measurement tools
• Dealing with various sources (international, national, non-governmental…)
• Confusion of policy makers? Proliferation of composite indicators
• What’s missing: – Involvement of citizens – bottom-up approach– Making statistics more attractive
The GID Data Base on Swivel
Data, explanations, comments…
…and specialised user groups
Next step:
For more information:www.oecd.org/dev/gender
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