2. Gender Measurements
ï United Nations has come up with two ways to measure the
gender inequality in each nation
ï Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) compares the
level of development of women with that of both sexes
ï Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) compares the ability
of women and men to participate in economic and political
decision making
3. Gender Related Development Index
ï Compares same indicators as HDI
ï Economic, Social, & Demographic indicators
ï Adjusted to reflect differences in accomplishments of men
verses women
ï Penalizes a country for having a large disparity between the
well-being of men and women.
ï Example: Iran Education and Saudi Arabia Income
4. GDI ContâŠ
ï Scored out of 1.0.
ï No country has achieved that.
ï Norway had a .941 in 2001
ï Lowest GDIs are in sub-Saharan Africa
8. Economic indicators of GDI
ï Estimate the average
income for males and
females
ï Every country males are
higher
ï In MDCs a gap of $12,000
or more is common
ï In LDCs dollar gap is small
but percentage is high.
(low income for both)
12. Social Indicators: Education
ï Education and Literacy are main points
ï Large education gap in LDCs, especially in secondary
schools.
ï LDCs boys are more likely to be enrolled
ï MDCs girls are more likely to be enrolled
ï Sub-Saharan Africa/Middle East: fewer than 1/3 of girls
attend school
15. Social Indicators: Literacy
ï MDCs: Literacy universal between men and women
ï Latin America: Literacy not universal but similar between
men and women
ï Sub-Saharan Africa/Southwest Asia: Female literacy is very
low in comparison to males.
ï Both a cause and an obstacle to development
19. Demographic Indicators of
GDI
ï MDCs: gender gap is greater than in LDCs
ï MDCs women live substantially longer than men.
ï LDCs women live a little longer than men
ï Female life expectancy in LDCs is due to the health risks of
child bearing
22. Gender Empowerment Measure
(GEM)
ï REPEAT: Measures the ability of women to participate in the
economic and political process of a country.
ï Combines two economic indicators
ï Income
ï Professional/technical jobs
ï Combines two political factors
ï Administrative jobs
ï Elected officials
23. GEM ContâŠ
ï Scored out of 1.0
ï No country has achieved that.
ï Lowest GEMs are LDCs
ï Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
ï Highest GEMs are MDCs
ï North America, Northern Europe, Oceania
ï Every country has a lower GEM than GDI
ï Meaning⊠women possess great share of a countryâs
resources than they do power over allocation of resources.
26. Economic Indicators of
GEM
ï Percentage of women holding professional and technical
jobs.
ï Regarded as jobs offering women the greatest opportunities
for advancement to positions of influence.
ï Cultural barriers may restrict the ability of women to obtain
or secure promotions
29. Political Indicators of GEM
ï FIRST: Percentage of administrative and managerial jobs
held by women
ï Measures the ability of women to influence decisions
32. Political Indicator of GEM ContâŠ
ï SECOND: Participation in politics
ï More women vote than men around the world
ï No country has a congress or parliament with more women
ï North Europe women comprise 33% of national parliament
ï United States women comprise 15% of National government
37. Comparing GEM and GDI
ï Every country has a lower GEM than GDI
ï A high GDI compared to the GEM means that women
control a greater share of the power in a country.