Gender Equality Index

The Gender Equality Index is a synthetic indicator that measures how far (or close) the EU and its Member States are from achieving a society that is both gender equal and performant. The measurement used produces a number that ranges between 1 and 100, where 100 stands for the best situation, where there are no gender gaps combined with the highest level of achievement.

It has been developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

The first Gender Equality Index presents the situation for the EU-27 in 2010 and was published in 2013.[1] It will be updated every 2 years.

Background

The Gender Equality Index is rooted in EU gender equality policy, being first introduced in the European Commission’s Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men 2006-2010.[2] Several indices have been developed to measure gender equality during the last decades, one of the most well-known being the Gender Gap Index, which has been published annually since 2006 by the World Economic Forum. The United Nations Development Programme (UNPD) has also introduced gender indices at international level, which includes the Gender-related Development Index (GDI), the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) and the Gender Inequality Index (GII). Another statistical tool is the Gender Equity Index (GEI), compiled by Social Watch, an international network of citizens’ organisations.

All these statistical indices show that gender inequality is pervasive, and they disseminate the results as a tool for further analysis and advocacy.[3] In spite of their existence, a Gender Equality Index focused on EU is needed, since these indices are not always appropriate for use at the EU level given that EU differences on these indices are sometimes too small to be meaningful.[4] The theoretical positions of various gender indices are different and have developed from several theoretical perspectives including human development, women’s empowerment or gender equality. The Gender Equality Index relies on a gender perspective which means that gender equality is posited as relevant to both women and men, and while not underplaying the unequal relations of power harming women in society, to emphasise that all gender gaps are detrimental to both women and men within society.[5] When the European Institute for Gender Equality began its operations in 2010, it undertook the task of developing a Gender Equality Index tailor-made for the European framework, aimed at supporting evidence-based decision-making.[6] The Gender Equality Index is the only gender index specifically tailored towards the EU and the Member States.[7]

Main results

The Gender Equality Index shows that in 2010, despite more than 50 years of gender equality policy, the EU is only just over half way towards a society that is both gender equal and performant with a score of only 54 out of 100.[8] A breakdown of the scores by Member States and domains[9] is provided in the table below.

Country Index Work Money Knowledge Time Power Health
SE 74.3 78.6 80.2 66.3 63.9 74.3 93.1
DK 73.6 81.6 79.2 75.1 64.9 60.0 91.8
FI 73.4 82.0 78.4 67.0 63.8 68.8 89.9
NL 69.7 73.1 82.5 65.5 71.3 52.2 94.7
UK 60.4 76.6 74.3 68.8 43.2 35.2 95.4
BE 59.6 66.4 79.3 54.7 45.3 45.2 94.1
FR 57.1 67.0 75.9 49.4 35.8 50.3 90.6
SI 56.0 69.1 70.2 51.4 49.1 36.0 88.7
IE 55.2 71.0 77.0 52.8 53.4 26.5 96.4
ES 54.0 61.3 60.7 53.5 33.8 47.2 90.7
DE 51.6 72.5 76.3 44.1 41.6 28.0 89.5
LU 50.7 66.4 90.9 61.1 48.9 14.7 93.9
AT 50.4 73.9 77.9 44.6 40.0 24.3 91.6
EE 50.0 64.6 49.1 53.0 51.4 27.5 83.8
CZ 44.4 71.6 59.3 37.3 23.2 29.6 89.6
LV 44.4 54.9 42.0 38.8 35.2 38.6 77.1
PL 44.1 61.4 52.2 44.0 20.9 34.5 82.6
LT 43.6 61.0 41.5 47.4 24.1 32.1 84.9
CY 42.0 68.7 74.1 52.9 25.3 12.2 91.1
MT 41.6 55.0 68.2 34.0 37.5 18.7 93.2
HU 41.4 55.9 54.4 35.1 32.5 24.4 83.7
PT 41.3 66.2 56.3 30.4 22.4 30.6 84.5
SK 40.9 61.0 53.7 35.0 17.8 33.1 85.8
IT 40.9 60.6 68.2 32.1 33.0 18.6 90.8
EL 40.0 59.7 63.3 36.7 17.4 24.4 92.4
BG 37.0 49.9 40.7 32.0 17.3 33.8 84.5
RO 35.3 60.4 39.0 28.8 17.8 24.9 84.0
EU-27 54.0 69.0 68.9 48.9 38.8 38.0 90.1

The worse scores for the Gender Equality Index are in the areas of time and power, highlighting that it is important to address both the division of time between women and men and their representation in decision-making. The average score for the domain of power in the EU is of only 38 out of 100, placing the question of the representation of women and men in decision-making as a central one.[8] The Country Profiles, the complementary publication to the main Gender Equality Index report, not only provides a breakdown of the Gender Equality Index scores and variables used, but also gives supplementary comparable information and an update on the development of each Member State in the area of gender equality since 2005 (navigate the map of the Gender Equality Index).

Domains measured

The conceptual framework of the Gender Equality Index describes gender equality in various aspects of economic and social life by analysing strategic policy documents at EU and international level, treaties, international platform reports and literature reviews. The main themes are summarised into a hierarchical structure of domains and sub-domains. Core domains include work, money, knowledge, time, power and health. In addition to these domains, it opens up a space for satellite domains that can measure gender equality issues from other perspectives (so far violence and intersecting inequalities). The satellite domains cannot be included in the core index because they measure a specific phenomenon that applies only to a selected group of the population. The domain violence measures gender-based violence against women while intersecting inequalities examines gender gaps among specific population groups (people with disabilities, lone parents, migrants etc.).[9] Core domains

Work

The domain of work relates to the position of women and men in the European Union’s labour market. It measures gender gaps in participation in the labour market, duration of working life, sectoral segregation patterns and quality of work, such as flexibility of working time, training at work, health and safety.

 Money

The domain of money examines inequalities in financial resources and the economic situation of women and men. It measures gaps in earnings and income, as well as not being at risk of poverty and income distribution.

 Knowledge

The domain of knowledge shows differences between women and men in terms of education and training. This domain measures gaps in participation in tertiary education, segregation and lifelong learning.

Time

The domain of time focuses on the trade-off between economic, care and other social activities (including cultural, civic, etc.). It measures time spent in unpaid activities, including gender gaps in time spent in childcare and domestic activities, but also other aspects of life such as cultural, leisure or charitable activities.

 Power

The domain of power examines how gender equality can be greatly affected by women’s lack of participation in decision-making. It measures the gaps between women’s and men’s representation in the political and economic spheres.

 Health

The domain of health focuses on gaps between women and men in terms of health status and access to health structures. It measures sex-based differences in self-perceived health, life expectancy and healthy life years and gender gaps in unmet needs.

Satellite domains

Intersecting Inequalities

Intersecting Inequalities is the first of the two satellite domains. The value of this domain is not taken into account when calculating the final score of the Index. Since women and men cannot be considered to be homogeneous groups, this domain looks at other characteristics that may affect gender equality. It explores gender gaps in employment rates among people born in a foreign country, older workers and lone parents or carers, as illustrative groups

 Violence

Violence is the second satellite domain. Conceptually, it considers gender-based violence against women and also focuses on the attitudes, norms and stereotypes that underpin the lack of progress in terms of gender equality. As a satellite domain, it is not combined into the score of the Index. It remains empty due to lack of comparable data. Violence is, nevertheless, a critical area of gender equality, and as such this blank domain should be seen as an urgent call to address the gaps in data collection.

Construction

The data sources used for constructing the Gender Equality Index are Eurostat, Eurofound and the European Commission Directorate-General for Justice.[10] The construction of a statistical measurement framework, for a robust composite indicator, necessitates a solid methodology which entails different steps. Among those, three are the most critical: imputation (estimation of missing data), aggregation (groups data according to the structure provided by the measurement framework) and weighting (assigns a relative importance to variables, sub-domains and domains). These steps involve several alternatives, such as for example in the aggregation process, the arithmetic, geometric or harmonic mean, which produce a different result of the Index. The selection of one particular alternative introduces subjectivity in the process. The calculation of the Gender Equality Index relies on eliminating as much subjectivity as possible, by applying the multi-modelling approach: computing a wide set of potential indices, based on the considered alternatives, from which to select the best index. Methodologically this index is defined as the most robust[11][12] because, among the 3 636 possible indices that were computed[13] its result relies more on the variables used rather than on the alternatives chosen in its formula.

The weights and aggregation methods used at each level are summarised in the table below:

Variables Sub-domains Domains
Weighting Equal Equal Experts
Aggregation Arithmetic Geometric Geometric

Download the report

Gender Equality Index Report, European Institute for Gender Equality

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Zalafӧldi, Alexandra (28 June 2013). "First Gender Equality Index Reveals Gender Equality is Only ‘Half-Reality’ for The EU". European public affairs (European scope). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  2. ↑ European Commission (2006). A Roadmap for equality between women and men – 2006-2010 – Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. p. 27. ISBN 92-79-00707-6.
  3. ↑ Momaya, Masum (09/04/2010). "Gender Equality Indices: Numbers Don’t Lie, And They Also Don’t Tell The Whole Story". Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ↑ Platenga, J.; Remery, C., Figueiredo, H. and Smith, M. (2009). "Towards a European Union Gender Equality Index". Journal of European Social Policy. 1 19: 19–33. doi:10.1177/0958928708098521. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Fraser, Nancy (1997). Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the 'Postsocialist' Conditio. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415917957.
  6. ↑ Lynch T.D., Kathleen (13 June 2013). "Address by Ms Kathleen Lynch T.D., Minister of State for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older Persons, Ireland at the launch of the Gender Equality Index, developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality". www.justice.ie. Brussels: AN ROINN DLÍ AGUS CIRT AGUS COMHIONANNAIS - Department of Justice and Equality. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Gender Equality Index launched in Brussels". Center for Policy Studies - Central European University. 2013-06-13.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2013). Gender Equality Index Report. pp. 108–135. ISBN 978-92-9218-312-7.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2013). Gender Equality Index Report. pp. 18–33. ISBN 978-92-9218-312-7.
  10. ↑ European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2013). Gender Equality Index Report. pp. 14–33. ISBN 978-92-9218-312-7.
  11. ↑ Nardo, M.; Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., Tarantola, S. (EC/JRC), Hoffman, A., Giovannini, E. (OECD) (2008). Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators: Methodology and User Guide. OECD, European Commission, Joint Research Centre. ISBN 9789264043466.
  12. ↑ Saisana, M.; Saltelli, A. (2011). "Rankings and Ratings: Instructions for Use". Hague Journal on the Rule of Law. 3: 247–268. doi:10.1017/S1876404511200058.
  13. ↑ European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2013). Gender Equality Index Report. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-92-9218-312-7.