Gender Equality

Gender Equality refers to the extent to which women and men face the same opportunities and constraints within families, the workplace, and society at large. Where gender discrimination has been reduced, people are better able to fulfil their potential in life and make the most of their skills and capabilities.

Gender equality is multifaceted, sustained by both social attitudes – for example, norms of fairness among employers, educators, and spouses – and social outcomes, such as the presence of women in managerial positions, educators, and legislators. ISD measure the level of gender equality using a wide range of complementary indicators, which span outcome measures such as access to jobs, educational placement, and a fair wage, as well as input measures which track the existence of discriminatory norms within society regarding a woman’s right to equal treatment in the workplace, in access to education, and in the family. Because gender discrimination is multifaceted, attitudinal data also can form a useful proxy for the persistence of broader forms of discrimination, such as domestic violence, for which we have little or no comparative information.

Data used for the 2020 Index:

IndicatorVariablesSourceCountries
When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than womenmen-more-right-to-job-than-womenWorld Values Surveys73
On the whole, men make better politiciansmen_make_better_politiciansWorld Values Surveys73
A university education is more important for a boy than for a girluniversity_more_important_for_boyWorld Values Surveys73
% Managers, “Men better Executives than Women”men_better_ceo_managersWorld Values Surveys73
On the whole, men make better leadersmen_make_better_leadersWorld Values Surveys73
Women have the same capabilities than me for science and technologywomen_same_capabilit_science_as_menLatinobarometer18
Women should have the same chance of being elected to political office as mensupport_female_politiciansAfrobarometer34
Africa, % Man has “Right to Beat Wife”men_right_beat_wifeAfrobarometer34
Discrimination in family-law sub-index of SIGIdiscrimination_women_in_family_lawSIGI177
Discrimination in civil liberties subindex- SIGIdiscrimination_women_citizenshipSIGI139
Discrimination in physical integrity sub-index SIGIdiscrimination_women_physical_integritySIGI128
Discrimination in women’s rights to access to economic resources sub-index SIGIdiscrimination_women_access_resourcesSIGI133
Ratio of average female to male wages, across all available labor categoriesF_M_wage_ratioInternational Labour Organization75
Problem if women have more income than husband?problem_women_more_income_than_husbandWorld Values Surveys42
Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate, right censored at 1F_M_labour_force_participWorld Development Indicators186
Female-Male Primary Enrollment RatioF_M_prim_school_enrolmWorld Development Indicators137
Female-Male Secondary Enrollment RatioF_M_second_school_enrolmWorld Development Indicators125
Female-Male Tertiary Enrollment RatioF_M_tert_school_enrolmWorld Development Indicators117
Ratio of female to male mortality rates, left-censored at 0.66 F_M_mort_ratioWorld Development Indicators165
Ratio of females among legislators, senior officials and managersfemale_administrators_ratioInternational Labour Organization30
Ratio of females in professional jobsfemale_professionals_ratioInternational Labour Organization54
Would you say your gross pay is unfairly low, fair, or unfairly high? Only women answersfair_wage_womens_answersEuropean Social Survey (ESS)29
Tradition is important to her. She tries to follow the customs. Only women respondentsfollow_tradition_womens_answersEuropean Social Survey (ESS)29
Number of states with a female head of statefemale_head_of_stateUN Women156
Percent of labour force that is femalefemale_labour_force_particp_rateWorld Development Indicators156
Ratio of females among legislators, senior officials and managersfemale_administrators_ratioInternational Labour Organization94
In your country, for similar work, to what extent are wages for women equal to those of men? Managers surveywage_equalityWorld Economic Forum (Excecutive Opinion Survey)138
Percentage of female ministerswomen_ministersUN Women156
Percentage of female parliamentarianswomen_parliamentUN Women156