2007/03/28

GENDER EQUITY INDEX 2007: Countries Do Not Need to Be Rich to Treat Women Fairly

Social Watch

NEW YORK (Mar 6) - Rwanda, one of the poorest countries, has greater gender equity than the United States, where the status of women has significantly regressed.

So says a new study by Social Watch launched in the context of the 51st Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women held in New York February 26-March 9.

Worldwide, the gender gap persists in all countries and the general trend is either very slow progress or no progress at all towards equality between women and men, according to the study.

Social Watch is an international network of more than 400 citizens’ organizations committed to social, economic and gender justice.

The Gender Equity Index (GEI) has been developed to rank countries according to social indicators using internationally available and comparable data. The index ranges from 0 to 100, with lower values indicating greater inequity. The three dimensions included in the GEI are economic activity, empowerment and education.

Rwanda ranks in the third highest spot on the 2007 GEI list with a score of 84, after Sweden (89) and Finland (also 84) and followed by Norway (83). This impressive performance has been achieved through the application of affirmative action policies, such as legislation to ensure minimum quotas for women’s political participation and labour market equity.

“This demonstrates that it is not necessary to achieve high levels of economic growth or industrialization to implement effective policies to promote greater equity,” said Karina Batthyány, the Social Watch research team coordinator.

The United States has a score of 74, but it has regressed 7% in relation to 2004 and is one of the 10 countries that have experienced the worst regression in recent years.

“The GEI for 2007 clearly shows that you do not have to be rich to be equitable,” stressed Social Watch coordinator Roberto Bissio. Numerous high-income countries have low scores in the GEI. This is the case of Italy (63), Japan (60), Luxembourg (60), Kuwait (49), Qatar (48) and Saudi Arabia (42).

Obviously, the modification of inequitable situations does not fundamentally depend on economic development but rather on the transformation of cultural patterns and power distribution, Bissio pointed out.

Besides Sweden, Finland, Rwanda and Norway, the 10 countries with the best GEI performance also include Germany (80), Barbados (80), Denmark (79), Iceland (79), New Zealand (78) and the Netherlands (77).

The 10 countries with the worst GEI performance are Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Morocco (all with a score of 42), Benin, the Central African Republic, Togo and Chad (41), Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire (39), and Yemen (31).

In the least equitable countries, the most inequitable dimension is that of empowerment, which is based on the proportion of female professional and technical workers, legislators, high officials and directors, and the number of women in government decision-making positions at the ministerial level. For example, Yemen and Côte d’Ivoire have values of 7 and 11 in this dimension, respectively.

The GEI classifies 154 countries and conclusively verifies that in no country do women enjoy the same opportunities as men, that high income levels are not necessary for the elimination of gender disparities, and that although some aspects of the status of women have improved over the years, their opportunities in economic and political areas are still clearly limited.

The economic dimension of the index measures gaps in women's participation in the labour market and gaps in the salaries earned by women as compared to men. In education, the GEI looks at enrolment gaps between boys and girls.

When GEI performance is rated by region, North America ranks in first place (74), Europe second (72), Latin America and the Caribbean third (65) and East Asia and the Pacific fourth (62).

The regions with the lowest GEI values are Central Asia (60), sub-Saharan Africa (54), South Asia (52) and the Middle East and North Africa (48).

Nevertheless, GEI trends show that although North America currently has the highest GEI values, it is also the region that has most regressed in recent years.

During the 2004-2007 period, the general gender equity trend seen worldwide was limited progress or no progress at all.

Three regions registered progress, with Latin America and the Caribbean achieving the greatest improvement, followed by Europe in second place and the Middle East and North Africa in third. In all three cases, however, progress measured less than 6%.

East Asia and the Pacific, along with sub-Saharan Africa, registered almost insignificant changes. Three regions suffered GEI regression: North America, Central Asia and South Asia. The fact that North America experienced the most significant gender equity regression of any region is primarily a result of the United States’ GEI performance, which fell by 7% in the last three years.

The country that has most regressed during this period is Angola (21%), followed by Turkey (13%). The list of the 10 countries that experienced the greatest regression encompasses low, middle and high income countries alike, with the latter category including, most significantly, the United States.

Meanwhile, the countries that registered the most progress during this period were Rwanda, in first place, followed by Ecuador, Cape Verde and Guatemala – all of them developing nations.

Gender-based inequity is a phenomenon that transcends borders, cultures, religions, and income levels, stressed Batthyány. The achievement of gender equity is a challenge for the entire modern world because although its manifestations are diverse, the gap between women and men persists in all countries, she added.

Social Watch is a network committed to eradicating poverty and its root causes and ensuring an equitable distribution of wealth and the realization of human rights, with an emphasis on the right of all people not to be poor. It regularly monitors government’s compliance with internationally agreed commitments.

More about GEI