SIGI 2009

The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) OECD Development Centre Construction and Results 2009

Why measure gender equality?
Gender equality a fundamental human right and a driver for development
Important gender gaps in health, education, political rights, and economic opportunities, particularly in developing countries
Better policies needed to effectively address gender inequalities

Why the SIGI?
Existing indices of gender equality measure inequality outcomes
GDI: inequality in health, education and economic participation
GEM: women‘s social and political rights
GGI: multidimensional measure of gender differences
GEI: Socio-economic opportunities
The SIGI measures the root causes of gender inequality
Traditions inducing inequalities (e.g. inheritance practices)
Social norms impacting on gender equality (e.g. son preference)
Cultural practices limiting the freedom of women (e.g. ogligations to be accompanied by male guardian)

How is the SIGI constructed? All variables are coded between 0 and 1. The value 0 means no or very low inequality and the value 1 indicates high inequality. Three of the variables (Early marriage, Female genital mutilation and Violence against women) are continuous. The other indicators are on an ordered categorical scale. Social Institutions Variables
Early marriage
Polygamy
Parental authority
Inheritance
Freedom of movement
Freedom of dress
Female genital mutilation
Violence against women
Access to land
Access to bank loans
Access to property
Ownership Rights Civil Liberties Physical Integrity Family Code
Missing women
Son Preference

Family Code
… refers to institutions that influence the decision-making power of women in the household. The following variables are included:
Parental authority measures whether women have the right to be a legal guardian of a child during marriage, and whether women have custody rights over a child after divorce.
Inheritance is based on formal inheritance rights of spouses.
Early marriage measures the percentage of girls between 15 and 19 years of age who are/were ever married.
Polygamy measures the acceptance of polygamy in the population. Countries where this information is not available are assigned scores based on the legality of polygamy.

Civil Liberties
… captures the freedom of social participation of women. It includes the following variables:
Freedom of movement indicates the freedom of women to move outside the home.
Freedom of dress is based on the obligation of women to cover parts of their body in the public.

Physical Integrity
… comprises different indicators on violence against women.
Violence against women indicates the existence of laws against domestic violence, sexual assault or rape, and sexual harassment.
Female genital mutilation is the percentage of women who have undergone female genital mutilation.

Son Preference
… reflects the economic valuation of women. Its only component is the variable Missing women :
Missing women measures gender bias in mortality. Countries were coded by Stephan Klasen based on estimates of gender bias in mortality for a sample of countries (Klasen and Wink, 2003) and on sex ratios of young people and adults.

Ownership Rights
… covers the access of women to several types of property.
Women’s access to land indicates whether women are allowed and have de facto access to own land.
Women’s access to bank loans measures whether women are allowed and have de facto access to credits.
Women’s access to property other than land covers mainly access to real property such as houses, but also any other property.

The SIGI Formula
The SIGI is an unweighted average of the GID subindices. Each term is squared to allow partial compensation.
Its values are between 0 and 1, with 0 meaning no inequality and 1 indicating complete inequality.
SIGI = ⅕ (Subindex Family Code) 2 + ⅕ (Subindex Civil Liberties) 2 + ⅕ (Subindex Physical Integrity) 2 + ⅕ (Subindex Son Preference) 2 + ⅕ (Subindex Ownership Rights) 2

What does the SIGI show?
Bottom performers among 102 developing countries: Sudan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone
Top performers : Paraguay, Croatia, Kazachstan
Highest inequality : sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; South Asia
Lowest inequality : Latin America; Europe and Central Asia
Region with both high and low performers: East Asia and Pacific

How can I use the SIGI?
Score and Ranking provide an overview of gender discrimination in social institutions
Subindeces help locate areas of particular concern
Social Institutions Indicators offer new empirical evidence
GID Country Notes explain in depth the SIGI score and ranking
GID Statistics , including the SIGI composite measure, can be accessed free of charge from www.oecd.org/dev/gender

For more information www.oecd.org/dev/gender

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SIGI 2009

by OECD Development Centre, Paris

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SIGI 2009

by OECD Development Centre, Paris

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SIGI 2009 Webinar Transcript

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