Methodological & Statistical Report
Bridging the Gender Gaps: The Africa Gender Index Report 2019
Copyright © 2020 African Development Bank and United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa
All rights reserved. Published March 2020
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019
This document was prepared jointly by the Gender, Women and Civil
Society Department at the African Development Bank and the Gender,
Poverty and Social Development Policy Division at the United Na-
tions Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Designations employed
in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion on
the part of the Bank and ECA concerning the legal status of any
country or territory, or the delimitation of its frontiers. While
every effort has been made to present reliable informa- tion, the
Bank and ECA accept no responsibility whatsoever for any
consequences of its use.
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Acronyms 6 Executive Summary 7
1. Contextual analysis and the development of the Africa Gender
Index 9 1.1 Introduction 9 1.2 Motivation for the Africa Gender
Index 9 1.3 Rationale for the development of the joint Africa
Development Bank-UN Economic Commission for Africa (Bank-UNECA)
Africa Gender Index Africa Gender Index 11 1.4 Goal and objectives
of the Africa Gender Index 12
2. Conceptual framework of the Africa Gender Index 13 2.1
Dimensions of the Africa Gender Index 13 2.2 Criteria for Indicator
Selection 14 2.3 Definition of Indicators 16 2.4 Imputation of
Missing Data 18 2.5 Limitations of the Africa Gender Index 18
3. Calculating the Africa Gender Index Africa Gender Index 19 3.1
Step 1 : Normalizing variables 19 3.2 Step 2 : Aggregating within
dimensions 20 3.3 Step 3 : Calculating the dimension gender gap 21
3.4 Step 4 : Aggregating across dimensions 21
4. Main Findings 23 4.1 Africa Gender Index and Component Indices
Gap 23 4.2 Robustness Analysis 25 4.3 Dimension Gap Analysis 26 4.4
Climate change impact on the wellbeing of women and men 27 4.5
Gender Equality and Women’s Reproductive Health 28
Conclusion and Policy Recommendation 33 Tables of results 34
Results by Regional Economic Communities 46 References 48
TABLE OF CONTENT
African Development Bank
Africa Gender Equality Index
African Union Commission
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women
Demographic and Health Survey
Gender related Development Index
System of National Account
AfDB
AGDI
AGEI
AGI
AGEWEI
AUC
CEDAW
DHS
GDI
GEI
GEM
GGGI
HDRO
ILO
LFS
LSMS
MDG
PC
SDG
SIGI
SNA
UNECA
ACRONYMS
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The Africa Gender Index (AGI) is a composite in- dex jointly
developed by the African Development Bank Group (the Bank) and the
United Nations Eco- nomic Commission for Africa (UNECA). It is
intend- ed to, among other things, gauge how women are faring
alongside their male counterparts in three dimensions of human
wellbeing-economic, social and empowerment (political and
institutional rep- resentation).
The centrality of gender equality is increasingly be- ing
recognised in countries around the world and there are both
regional and global frameworks re- quiring states to commit to its
achievement.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda
2030) has 17 aspiration- al sustainable development goals (SDGs)
and 169 targets. Goal 5 is a standalone goal urging member states
to strive to achieve gender equality and em- power all women and
girls. In addition, gender per- spectives and special indicators
for women are wo- ven into many of the other SDGs in particular
those related to poverty eradication, health, educational
attainment, water and sanitation, employment and access to
affordable, reliable, sustainable and mod- ern energy for
all.
The first aspirational goal of the African Union Agenda 2063 is "a
prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable
development." Thus, a transformative Africa requires knowledgeable
and healthy states where women and men have equal opportunity to
expand their capabilities and choices in order to contribute to the
development processes on equal footing as men.
Thus, a transformative Africa requires knowledgea- ble and healthy
states where women and men have equal opportunity to expand their
capabilities and choices in order to contribute to the development
processes on equal footing as men.
This first AGI Report intends to support African countries to
monitor these commitments and serves as baseline information from
which the continent will monitor progress towards gender equality.
It complements other gender indices and dashboard indicators aimed
at monitoring progress on gender equality. Limited availability of
policy relevant gender statistics, poses a challenge to in- cluding
some very important aspects of gender ine- quality in the AGI. The
AGI is therefore a living index that will be reviewed and improved
as more data become available, through the Africa data revolu- tion
and the sustainable development goals moni- toring
frameworks.
The index is intended for use by national govern- ments, gender
activists, women’s groups, and oth- er non-state actors to advocate
for implementation of gender policies and programmes; and for allo-
cation of resources to improve the availability and quality of
gender statistics.
Findings from analysis of the index show stark in- equalities
between women and men especially in the economic and empowerment
(political and institutional representation) dimensions of the in-
dex while gaps in the social dimension are close- ly. In fact,
female educational attainment outstrips that of men in a number of
countries. Women’s improved educational attainment has not been
matched with access to decent job opportunities.
Entrenched traditional norms and value systems, gender segregation
of occupation combined with other discriminatory practices such as
women’s disproportionate share of unpaid care and domes- tic work
continue to put women in economic disad- vantages. There are less
women in decision-making positions, fewer own business or hold top
man- agement positions in business and are less likely to own
productive assets such as land. The result is persistent gender
wage gaps.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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While a conducive legal and policy environment for gender equality
exists in a number of countries, there appears to be a lag in
implementation. Adap- tive preference resulting from entrenched
discrimi- natory practices and traditional concept of feminin- ity
also prevent women from taking advantage of existing laws.
Gender equality is critical for the achievement of the SDGs as well
as Africa’s transformation agenda. It will therefore be to the
advantage of African gov- ernments to implement and enforce
existing poli- cies and legislation and to enact new ones where
they are lacking. For example, paid maternity leave and public
provision of childcare services are impor- tant for women’s labour
force participation. Work place provision of childcare services is
inexpensive and is mutually beneficial to both workers and em-
ployers; and should be promoted. Minimum wage legislation is
another important avenue to bridge gender gap in earnings.
There is ample evidence that affirmative action such as quota
systems has boosted women’s representation
in national parliament. Rwanda is a good example of countries where
high female representation in parliament has resulted in enactment
of laws to boost women’s status. Yet, many countries have not
achieved a quota of thirty % female representa- tion in
parliament.
To accelerate the achievement of the goal on gen- der equality,
African governments should consider taking affirmative action to
increase participation of women in top decision-making positions.
Coun- tries that are yet to achieve the 30 % female quota should
intensify their efforts to achieve that.
Efforts should be made to reduce its drudgery through provision of
services such as access to wa- ter within reasonable distance,
access to modern energy and access to modern energy technologies
and services. Unpaid care work also needs to be redistributed more
equally, between women and men, and between households and society.
Pub- lic action is needed to create decent jobs; support women to
take up employment opportunities and empower them to shape their
working environ- ments.
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“Recognition of equal rights for women along with men, and the
determination to combat discrimination on the basis of gender, are
achievements equal in importance to the abolition of slavery, the
elimination of colonialism and the establishment of equal rights
for racial and ethnic minorities.” 1995 Human Development
Report
1.1 Introduction
Gender relationships are changing in many socie- ties and
inequalities between men and women are being challenged in
virtually every sphere of life-at work, in the home and in public
affairs-since the first Women’s Conference was held in Mexico City
in 1975. But we are yet to meet the ideal of equal treatment of men
and women anywhere in the world. Gender inequalities persist,
amidst remark- able social and economic transformations and in
spite of movements to challenge women’s subordi- nation.
Paradoxically, there is increased recognition that gender
inequality is detrimental to national de- velopment as its impact
affects society as a whole. Gender equality and women’s empowerment
are critical to Africa’s development transformation and the
Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
Firstly, gender equality and women’s empower- ment are human rights
to be pursued in their own right-human rights are universal and
indivisible and entails that all human beings-men and women, are
free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without
the limitations set by gender stere- otypes and the culture of
femininity and masculin- ity. Secondly, Africa cannot achieve any
meaningful and sustainable transformation unless the aspira- tions
and the different needs of women and men are considered, valued and
favoured equally. While women and men need not be the same-there
are obvious biological differences-their rights, re- sponsibilities
and opportunities should not depend on whether they are born male
or female.
Gender equality is about equity between the sex- es, meaning
fairness in treatment of women and men, according to their
respective needs. This may include equal treatment or differential
treatment, which is considered equivalent, in terms of rights,
benefits, obligations and opportunities aimed at re- dressing
historical discrimination.
AGI is a composite index jointly developed by the African
Development Bank Group (the Bank) and the United Nations Economic
Commission for Afri- ca (UNECA). It is intended to among other
things, gauge how women are faring alongside their male
counterparts in three dimensions of human well- being-economic,
social and empowerment (rep- resentation and institutional).
1.2 Motivation for the AGI
Aside from its intrinsic value, gender equality and women’s
empowerment also has an instrumental value. There is ample evidence
that investments in women and girls can be a vehicle to promote
long- term prospects for growth and human wellbeing. For example,
in 2011, the International Labour Or- ganization (ILO) estimated
that an additional $1.6 trillion (in purchasing power parity (PPP)
in output could be generated globally if the gender gap in
employment-to-population is reduced. For sub-Sa- haran Africa,
there could be a 0.2 % increase in av- erage annual GDP growth if
the gender gaps were reduced1 . Action Aid International also
estimates that African women could gain an additional $0.7 trillion
(in PPP) if the gender gaps in employment and wages were
closed2.
1 CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICA GENDER
INDEX
1ILO (2011). 2ActionAid International (2015).
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Globally, increased wellbeing of women has been found to be
positively correlated with child survival and development, and
improvement in family well- being in general. It is therefore not
surprising that African governments have made various global and
regional declarations, subscribed to conventions and protocols that
commit them to promote gen- der equality and women’s
empowerment.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda
2030) has 17 aspiration- al sustainable development goals (SDGs)
and 169 targets. Goal 5 is a standalone goal urging member states
to strive to achieve gender equality and em- power all women and
girls. In addition, gender per- spectives and special indicators
for women are wo- ven into many of the other SDGs in particular
those related to poverty eradication, health, educational
attainment, water and sanitation, employment and access to
affordable, reliable, sustainable and mod- ern energy for
all.
The first aspirational goal of the African Union Agenda 2063 is "a
prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable
development." Thus, a transformative Africa requires knowledgea-
ble and healthy states where women and men have equal opportunity
to expand their capabilities and choices in order to contribute to
the development processes on equal footing.
The Agenda 2030 and Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 build on previous
global gender equality frame- works including:
• The Nairobi Forward Looking Strategy for Ad- vancement of
Women;
• the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW);
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child; • the Programme of
Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development; • the Beijing Platforms
for Action;
• the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights
on the Rights of Women in Africa; and
• African Union solemn Declaration on Gender Equality
Measuring progress towards gender equality and women’s
empowerment
The implication of the various global and region- al commitments on
gender equality that African countries have subscribed to, is the
need for accu- rate and comprehensive policy relevant gender sta-
tistics to gauge how states are delivering on those commitments.
Reliable and sound gender statistics are required to assess whether
or not progress is being made, identify key gender gaps where poli-
cy interventions are needed, and to promote evi- dence-based
planning and decision-making.
However, the production and dissemination of quality gender
statistics remain a major challenge in most African countries.
Though there have been improvements in the availability of gender
statis- tics, these are limited to socio-economic issues such as
poverty, unemployment, educational at- tainment and mortality.
Specifically, what is lacking is ample and quality data on gender
and the econ- omy in general, and data on access of men and women
to economic resources and opportunities including access to credit
from formal financial in- stitutions, ownership of land and other
assets, de- cent employment, entrepreneurship and time use for paid
and unpaid care and domestic work.
According to the Report of the UN Women’s As- sessment of Status of
Gender Statistics in Africa, there is poor technical capacity for
production and analysis of gender statistics. The Assessment also
found a lack of systematic integration of gender in National
Statistics Systems work programme as well as lack of coordination
and harmonization of the data collected.
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1.3 Rationale for the development of the joint African Development
Bank Group- UN Economic Commission for Africa AGI
1.3.1 The African Gender and Development Index (AGDI)
In response to the gender data challenges, the UNECA developed the
AGDI in 2004. The primary objective of the AGDI is to provide
African countries with a gender accountability and advocacy tool to
implement and assess their progress against gender equality
commitments. It consists of two complementary parts: a Gender
Status Index (GSI) and the African Women’s Progress Scoreboard
(AWPS). The GSI covers the aspects of gender relations that can be
measured quantitatively, while the AWPS captures qualitative issues
in relation to the performance of gender policies of African
Governments on implementing regional and international commitments
on gender equality and women’s empowerment . Presently, data have
been collected for the AGDI in over 40 countries.
1.3.2 The Africa Gender Equality Index (AGEI)
African Development Bank Group believes that women play a vital
role in Africa’s development and should be represented at all
levels for improved human wellbeing. Against this backdrop, the
Bank constructed the AGEI in 2015 to track progress on gender
equality in 52 of Africa’s 54 countries. Its aim is similar with
that of the AGDI. It is intend- ed to help African decision-makers
focus on some of the most serious barriers that prevent African
women from engaging at the same level with men and to help African
citizens demand more from their governments. The index is also
intended to help the Bank meet its commitments to develop- ing
gender-balanced strategies and to anchor its in- vestment decisions
in facts. This it is believed, will help maximize the impacts of
its programmes on the lives and livelihoods of African men and wom-
en. The AGEI was to complement the UNECA’s AGDI introduced in
2004.
However, it is difficult to justify the need for two gender indices
for the continent. Having one Afri- can Gender Equality Index that
addresses the limi- tations of the two existing indices will create
more strategic synergy, avoid duplication of efforts and less
confusion around priority areas for policy in- tervention on
gender. Thus, one comprehensive index will help to promote
collective focused inter- ventions aimed at promoting gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls on the con-
tinent.
AGI presented in this Report is informed by the strengths and
weakness of the two existing Africa gender equality indices.
AGI is timely for at least two reasons:
• Firstly, it is being developed at a time where countries are
developing their national develop- ment plans, which integrate the
aspirations of Agendas 2030 and 2063; and
• Secondly, the launch of the Africa Data Revolu- tion initiative,
which aims to achieve:
“a profound shift in the way that data are har- nessed to impact on
development decision-mak- ing, with a particular emphasis on
building a cul- ture of usage. The process of embracing a wide
range of data communities and diverse range of data sources, tools,
and innovative technologies, to provide disaggregated data for
decision-mak- ing, service delivery and citizen engagement; and
information for Africa to own its narrative.”4
The Data Revolution opens up a strategic oppor- tunity to
institutionalize the Bank-UNECA’s AGI-as it will expand the data
sources in tandem with the gradual process of strengthening
Africa’s statistics. In addition, the Index provides a framework
for the collection, analysis and use of gender responsive
statistics within the Data Revolution.
11
3 See UNECA (2016) for more details on the AGDI. 4 The Africa Data
Consensus, Eighth Joint Annual AUC-ECA Conference of Minsters,
2015
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1.3.3 Value Addition of the AGI
The question that comes to mind is, with all the ex- isting gender
indices is there a need to construct another one? The concept of
gender equality is perhaps as broad as development itself. It is
there- fore impossible for one index to capture the depth and
breadth of the concept. The AGI is intended as a complement to the
existing global gender indices by addressing some of their
limitations and focus on some of the missing dimensions.
Furthermore, country ownership of a measure serves as a motivation
for its use to inform plan- ning and policy decisions. Global
gender meas- ures largely rely on international data sources to
enhance cross-country comparability. These data agencies often
apply international standards and harmonization procedures for this
purpose. Due to the difficulties in coordination between national
and international data sources, international sourc- es may not
incorporate the most recent national data. This often leads to
differences in estimates between national and international data
sources for the same indicators, with national data agen- cies
claiming that their estimates are more relia- ble. As such, there
is mistrust for internationally constructed composite indices. The
AGI’s strength lies in its effort to as much as possible use
national data where available. Notwithstanding, in other to include
as many African countries as possible in the index, data are
sourced from international sources when country estimates are
missing.
1.4 Goal and objectives of the Africa Gender Index
The goal of AGI is to provide member States with a comprehensive,
yet easy to use gender policy making and accountability tool to
gauge progress on gender equality. The aim is to promote acceler-
ated implementation of global and regional gender equality
commitments including the SDGs, Agenda
2063, and the Bank “High 55” Agenda, which aims to bring gender
perspective into the Bank’s five pri- ority areas to-light up and
power Africa, feed Africa, integrate Africa, industrialize Africa,
and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
Specific objectives of the AGI
Specifically, the objectives of the AGI are to: • Institutionalize
the collection and use of gender
statistics at national and local levels; • Respond to limited
availability of gender statis-
tics by providing countries with a concise meas- ure to assess
progress on gender equality com- mitments;
• Serve as an advocacy tool to support countries’ policy actions
towards greater positive change on women’s and girls’ lives;
• Serve as a tool for evidence-based planning, formulation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and
programmes aimed at advancing gender equality;
• Profile gender statistics in Africa’s on-going data revolution
processes; and
• Support the realization of an equitable transfor- mation of
Africa’s economies and the continent’s sustainable and inclusive
development.
The rest of the report is divided into five sections and structured
as follows: Section 2 presents the conceptual framework, the
dimensions of the AGI and indicators measuring them as well as
proce- dures for imputing missing data. Section 3 details out the
methodological procedure for calculating the AGI, main findings and
some results of robust- ness analysis. Section 4 examines the legal
and policy context to deepen the understanding of the index main
findings, while Section 5 analyzes some women specifics indicators
in the context of the AGI. Section 6 presents the conclusion from
the analysis and provides some policy recommenda- tions.
5 The Bank’s five priority operational areas are the following:
Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa,
Integrate Africa and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of
Africa,
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A sound conceptual framework is the starting point to constructing
any composite index. It defines the phenomenon being measured and
its sub-components, individual indicators and weights that reflect
their relative importance, and the dimensions of the overall
composite index. Getting the conceptual framework right is
therefore the first step towards constructing a good index.
The conceptual framework for the AGI is under- pinned by a people
centered approach, placing the African population-women and girls,
men and boys- at the centre of policy actions for Africa’s
structur- al transformation and the recognition that gender
equality is a human right issue. It is also informed by Amartya
Sen’s capabilities approach-potential "functionings" which focuses
on expansion of free- doms and choices and the opportunities that
wom- en and men have to lead the lives that they have reason to
value-what Sen refers to as ''doings and beings.'' This is because
key elements of human life is a combination of "functionings" to
live a life free from hunger and poverty, to escape morbidity and
early death, be educated and be able to participate in the life of
one’s community. Thus, there are eco- nomic, social, political and
institutional; as well as environmental dimensions of gender
inequality. The rationale behind the index is to evaluate wom- en
and men’s "functionings" and their capability to function, as a
central part of development analysis focusing on these key
dimensions.
The development of the AGI is also grounded in the policy and
academic literature on composite indi- ces construction developed
over the past 20 years and summarized in OECD Handbook on
Construct- ing Composite Indicators: Methodology and User Guide,
published in 2008.
The following principles will guide the construction of the AGI: •
Human rights principles-equity and justice; • Africa’s Agenda 2063
with gender equality being
a key goal; • A prosperous Africa, based on inclusive growth
and sustainable development; and • A holistic measure that cuts
across the economic,
social, civil and political spheres of Africa’s devel- opment
2.1 Dimensions of the Africa Gender Index The AGI avoids the
temptation of putting too many dimensions and indicators into one
index making interpretation difficult and limiting its policy rele-
vance. The index focuses on measuring gender in- equalities (gaps)
in key capabilities for elementary "functionings" without which
other aspects of hu- man progress would be difficult to attain. The
AGI has three dimensions-economic, social, and em- powerment and
representation (both political and institutional). The economic
dimension assesses whether wom- en and men have equal economic
opportunities. It measures gender inequalities in labour market
par- ticipation, wages and incomes, business ownership and access
to productive resources.
The social dimension measures gaps in access to education and
health services. It seeks to assess whether girls and boys have
equal educational op- portunities; the pre-requisite levels of
education to function as active members of their communi- ties and
that they have equal opportunity to lead healthy lives.
The empowerment and representation dimension measures the extent to
which women and men participate in their country’s decision-making
pro- cesses and organs, and whether women and men are represented
in political institutions equitably.
The index measures the current state of gender in- equalities. As
such, the indicators measuring each dimension are largely, flow
variables that respond quickly to policy interventions.
2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE AFRICA GENDER INDEX
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2.2 Criteria for Indicator Selection
The strengths and weaknesses of composite in- dicators largely
depend on the quality of the un- derlying indicators. Selection of
indicators for the AGI is premised on four main
principles-analytical soundness, measurability, country coverage,
and relevance of the indicators to the phenomenon be- ing measured
and relationship to each other. While
the theoretical framework guides the choice of in- dicators for the
AGI, the indicator selection process is also influenced by what is
available. Given the paucity of relevant cross-country comparable
data adequately measuring each dimension, the choice of indicators
is somehow subjective. Notwithstand- ing, the chosen indicators are
the best ones that are available at national and international
levels. Data used for the construction of the index are the most
recent available for the periods 2009 to 2019.
The dimensions and indicators measuring them are presented in Table
2.
Table 2: Summary Dimensions, sub-dimensions and indicators
measuring them and their sources Dimension Sub-component Sub
category Sources of Data
Economic
Labour market participation and outcomes
Employment to population ratio 25+
Labour force surveys (LFS) or other households surveys including
DHS for countries with no other sources
Labour force participation rate 15+
Paid employment as a proportion of total employment
Employment rate in the informal economy
Vulnerable employment Youth unemployment rate (15-24) Time use in
unpaid work
Time use surveys Time use in paid work
Wages and salaries from all sectors, in- cluding Incomes from
household enterprises in the formal and informal sectors
NSS based on data from LFS, Household income and expendi- ture
surveys, Integrated House- hold Surveys, Enterprise surveys, Social
security funds, Civil ser- vants registries
Access to resources
Access to credit from formal and infor- mal financial
institutions
Integrated household surveys, Financial sector surveys, Informal
sector surveys, Word Bank Findex Data (http://datatopics.world-
bank.org/financialinclusion/)
Management
Shares in top management of businesses Enterprise surveys/World
Bank
Shares of senior officials and managers National Population
Censuses (PC) Labour force surveys and ILO
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Table 2: Summary Dimensions, sub-dimensions and indicators
measuring them and their sources Dimension Sub-component Sub
category Sources of Data
Social
Education
Completion rates in Primary, lower sec- ondary, upper secondary
schools NSS, Ministries of Education, UIS
Tertiary graduation rate
Tertiary graduation in science, technolo- gy, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) NSS, UIS
Out of school children (OOSC)
Youth not in Employment, education or training NSS, ILO
Health
Malnutrition among children
Ministerial positions Female and male shares NSS, IPU, UN
Women
Land and House ownership Female and male shares DHS or other
household surveys
Proportion of firms with female top manager
Female and male shares LFS, PC
Managers, professionals, technicians
1515
DHS: Demographic and Health Survey; LFS: Labour Force Survey; LSMS:
Living Standard Measurement Study
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2.3 Definition of Indicators
As composite measures often rank countries based on the values of
the index, data used for their construc- tion therefore have to be
comparable across countries.
While the index will rely mostly on national data, indicators
measuring each sub-component will as much as possible, be defined
uniformly across countries to enhance comparability. Table 3 pre-
sents the definition of each indicator.
Table 3: Indicators and their definitions Indicator
Definition
Access to micro and commercial credit
percentage of persons aged 15+, who report borrowing any money from
a bank, credit union, microfinance institution, or another
financial institution such as a cooperative.
Completion rate (primary, lower sec- ondary and upper
secondary)
The number of persons in the relevant age group who have completed
the last grade of the given level of education expressed as a
percentage of the total population of the same age group.
Employees as a proportion of total employment
Employees are all those workers who hold paid employment jobs,
which are those where the incumbents hold employment contracts,
which give them a basic remuneration not directly dependent upon
the revenue of the unit for which they work expressed as a
percentage of total employment.
Employment in the informal economy Note: Finally this indicator was
not used in the computation of the AGI, being somehow redundant
with vul- nerable employment
Informal employment is a job-based concept and encompasses those
jobs that generally lack basic social or legal protections or
employment benefits. They comprises persons who in their main job
were: (a) own-account work- ers, employers or members of producers’
cooperatives employed in their own informal sector enterprises; (b)
own-account workers engaged in the production of goods exclusively
for own final use by their household; (c) contributing family
workers, irrespective of whether they work in formal or informal
sector enterprises; or (d) employees holding informal jobs, wheth-
er employed by formal sector enterprises, informal sector
enterprises, or as paid domestic workers by households.
Employment to population ratio Proportion of a country’s
working-age population that is employed
Graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Successful completion of tertiary educational programme in Science
or technology or engineering or mathematics
Labour force participation rate The proportion of a country’s
working-age population that engages actively in the labour market,
by either working or looking for work. Labour force data do not
take into account workers employed abroad.
Land ownership Proportion of females and of males who own
land
Life expectancy at birth Number of years a new born infant could
expect to live if prevailing patterns of age-specific mortality
rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s
life.
Managers, professionals and Tech- nicians
Share of positions defined according to the International Standard
Classi- fication of Occupation (ISCO) to managers, professional and
technicians. They include senior government officials, chief
executive officers, etc.
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Ministerial position
Number of people holding ministerial portfolios or equivalent
positions in the government disaggregated by sex. Prime
Ministers/Heads of Govern- ment are also included when they hold
ministerial portfolios. Vice-Presi- dents and heads of governmental
or public agencies are not included.
Out of school children Children in the official school age range
for a specific level of education who are not enrolled in
schools..
Participation in firm ownership percentage of firms with a woman
(also man) among the principal owners.
Proportion of firms with female top manager
percentage of firms in the private sector who have females (also
males) as top managers. Top manager refers to the highest-ranking
manager or CEO of the establishment. This person may be the owner
if he/she works as the manager of the firm.
Stunted children (moderate or severe)
percentage of children aged 0-59 months that are below minus two
stan- dard deviations from median height-for-age of the WHO Child
Growth Stan- dards.
Tertiary graduation rate
Successful completion of tertiary educational programme. Note that
it is possible for a single graduate to have more than one
graduation (even within the same academic year) if they were
enrolled simultaneously in two or more programmes and successfully
completed them.
Time spent in paid work The amount of time an individual spends on
a typical day in paid economic activities.
Time spent in unpaid care work The amount of time an individual
spends on a typical day on unpaid care and domestic work (including
for other households, i.e community services or volunteering)
Vulnerable employment as a per- centage of total employment
Employed persons engaged as unpaid family workers and own account
workers expressed as a percentage of total employment.
Wage in formal sector
It is a fixed regular payment, made by an employer to an employee
in the formal sector. The formal sector encompasses all jobs with
normal hours and regular wages, and are recognized as income
sources on which income taxes must be paid
Wages in agriculture It is earnings from agricultural related
activities
Youth unemployment percentage of the labour force population aged
15-24 that is not in paid employment or self-employed but is
available for work and has taken steps to seek paid employment or
self-employment.
Youth Literacy rate
percentage of people aged 15 to 24 years who can both read and
write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday
life. Generally, "literacy" also encompasses "numeracy", the
ability to make simple arith- metic calculations.
Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET rate)
It is the share of youth aged 15-24 who are not in employment,
education or training, which is a broad measure of untapped
potential of youth.
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2.4 Imputation of Missing Data
Missing data can introduce bias and make the han- dling and
analysis of the data difficult. This is par- ticularly problematic
when constructing a compos- ite index to compare countries’
progress on gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. It
reduces the representativeness of the data. Impu- tation is a way
to avoid deletion of cases that are missing values for some of the
indicators used for construction of the index.
In constructing the AGI, four approaches were adopted to deal with
missing data. The first involves replacing any missing value with
the mean of that variable for all other cases. This has the
advantage of not changing the sample mean for that variable. The
second is what is known as hot-deck imputa- tion-that is filling in
missing data with individual data, drawn from countries with
''similar'' charac- teristics. For example, missing values for wage
gap may be replaced with that of another country with similar
economic growth, educational attainment, literacy level and size of
informal sector or predict- ed from regression analysis. The third
approach is regression imputation and the final approach is the
"cold-deck" approach-that is replacing missing data with estimates
from a different source. The purpose of imputation is to help
include as many countries as possible in the AGI.
2.5 Limitations of the AGI
As stated earlier, the concept of gender is broad and the AGI does
not cover all its dimensions. There are important dimensions not
covered due to data paucity. In particular, while there is a better
under- standing of the importance of time use in thinking about
well-being, time use data are not regularly collected and data are
available for only a limited number of countries. As such, time use
is not in- cluded in the construction of the AGI. However given its
particular importance, the issue that this indicator highlights has
been addressed in some details
in this report and data have been provided for the countries having
carried out such surveys.
The same holds true for ownership of economic as- sets, for ''Out
of School Children'' (OOSC), Science, Technology Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) and Neither in Employment nor in Education or
Training (NEET) despite their crucial importance. For a number of
countries we have had to impute values for these indicators. In
fact, estimates had to be made for a number of countries with
regards to indicators measuring the economic dimension. The
database however contains all real values for these indicators,
where available.
For participation in decision-making, some commu- nity level
indicators would have been useful, but cross-country comparable
data are not available. Likewise, a gender breakdown of electoral
turnout is available for only a handful of countries. Hence, it
remains very difficult to capture the political rep- resentation
and economic participation of women and men. Readers are therefore
urged to comple- ment the analysis of the index with other relevant
indicators such as of monetary and non-monetary measures of poverty
for a broader picture of the magnitude of gender inequality.
The index adopts equal weighting to emphasize that all the
dimensions are equally important.
Lastly, the data used in the construction of the in- dex are
largely supplied by National Statistical Offic- es. While
indicators have been defined in a stand- ard manner, the reference
periods for a number of the indicators vary across countries. As
such, we have avoided ranking countries based on the index values
but rather encourage countries to use the information for advocacy
at the national level, in- cluding promoting the production of
relevant and timely gender disaggregated statistics.
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There are four main steps to constructing the Africa Gender Index.
In what follows we describe each of the steps.
3.1 Step 1: Normalizing variables
The underlying indicators for the AGI are measured in different
units. In order to combine them into an index, they have to be
normalized into a scale ly- ing between zero and one using natural
or defined minimum and maximum values or goalposts. How- ever,
normalization is sensitive to both the choice of limits and
outliers at both ends of the distribution of indicators across
countries. For example, outliers may become unintended thresholds
and introduce spurious variability in the data if care is not
taken. We have used goalposts to reduce spurious varia- bility in
the index. Values higher than the natural maximum goalpost have
been capped at the maxi- mum value. The goalposts are fixed for a
period of five years to allow progress to be monitored. How- ever,
using the exact minimum values means that, a country with that
value will have a zero index value.
This will create a problem for geometric mean ag- gregation method
adopted for the AGI. As such, a value of 0.4 is subtracted from the
observed mini- mum values and 0.5 added to the maximum value if the
value is less than the highest possible level. For example, in the
case of completion rates by level of education, if the highest
value is 100 % all students complete.
The same minimum and maximum values are used for both males and
females (except for life ex- pectancy at birth where different
values are used because of women’s natural advantage over men in
terms of longevity). Using the same values for women and men
ensures a fair spread of the distri- bution of the sub-indices and
avoids giving a false impression that females are doing better when
in fact, the highest aspiration is far below that of males.
Thus, indicators will be normalized as follows:
Normalized value of indicator = 1actual value –minimum value
maximum value –minimum value
Since the aim is to measure progress, deprivation indicators are
normalized as:
Indicator index = 1- actual value –minimum value maximum value
–minimum value
3. CALCULATING THE AFRICA GENDER INDEX
Normalized value of indicator = 1-
Indicator index = 1-
3.2 Step 2: Aggregating within dimensions
A common way to aggregate the sub-dimensions into sub-indices is by
arithmetic or geometric mean. While the arithmetic method of
aggregation is useful when all individual indicators have the same
measurement unit, geometric mean of aggregation is better if one
wants some degree of non-compensability between dimensions. This is
to stress that all the dimensions making up the index are equally
important and a poor performance in one dimension cannot be fully
compensated for by a good performance in another. Further,
geometric mean aggregations reward those countries with higher
scores in all dimensions.
In arithmetic method of aggregation, good performance in one
dimension can be compensated fully by poor performance in another.
In other words, there is perfect substitutability, while with
geometric aggregations; compensability is lower for the indicators
with low values. Therefore, the marginal utility from an increase
in low absolute score would be much higher than in a high absolute
score under geometric mean aggregation. Consequently, a country
would have a greater incentive to address those dimensions with low
scores if the aggregation were geometric rather than arithmetic. In
this regard, the AGI adopts geometric mean of aggregation both
within dimensions and across dimensions.
Table 3.1: Goalposts for normalizing indicators Indicator Minimum
value Maximum value Access to micro and commercial credit 0.25 21.8
Completion rate-Primary 6.1 100.0 Completion rate-Lower Sec 3.7
100.0 Completion rate-Upper Sec 1.2 58.1 Graduates in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 15.1 83.2 Graduation
rate-Tertiary 1.4 87.3 Employment-to-population ratio 15.6 94.7
Land ownership 0.6 100 Labour force participation rate 16.6 93.3
Life expectancy at birth (female) 52.54 78.96 Life expectancy at
birth (male) 49.6 77.6 Managers, professionals and Technicians 5.6
91.3 Ministerial position 9.6 89.5 Out-of-School Children 5.6 66.3
Participation in firm ownership 3.0 97.1 Proportion of firms with
female top manager 3.0 97.1 Stunted children (moderate or severe)
8.4 62.2 Vulnerable employment as a % of total employment 4.8 97.3
Wage (all sectors) 7.5 91.6 Youth unemployment rate 1.1 86.5 Youth
Literacy rate 14.7 99.9 Youth not in employment, education or
training (NEET rate) 1.2 43.1
*For deprivation indicators, higher values represent poor
performance. These indicators are normalized as a residual to give
it a positive twist
20
The goalpost for each indicator is presented in Table 3.1.
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3.3 Step 3: Calculating the dimension gender gap
The next step is to calculate the gender gap in each dimension as
follows:
Dimension gender gap = Dimension Indexf
Dimension indexm
where subscript f and m represent female and male
achievements.
3.4 Step 4: Aggregating across dimensions
The final stage of the index construction process is aggregating
the dimension gaps using ge- ometric mean.
As stated earlier, the use of geometric mean of ag- gregation is to
stress the importance of each of the dimensions. This means that
the index will reward countries with good performance across all
the di- mensions and penalize those with uneven perfor- mance
across dimensions.
The AGI is given as follows:
AGI = Economic dimension gender gap1/3*social development gender
gaps1/3*Empowerment and Representation gender gap1/3
Schematic presentation of the index calculation process is shown in
Figure 1
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Dimension gender gap =
Figure 1 : Schematic Presentation of the index calculation
process
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4. MAIN FINDINGS 4.1 Africa Gender Index and Component Indices
Gap
Overall, 51 out of the 54 African countries are in- cluded in the
index using data from national and international data sources and
imputing values for missing data. Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and
South Sudan are not included because they are missing too many of
the indicators.
Table 3.2 presents the index values and the gender gaps in the
three dimensions-the closer a value is to one, the better a
country’s performance.
Generally, women lag behind men in all the three dimensions but
there are very few exceptions. Women do better than men in the
social dimen- sion component. In a number of countries, more
females are completing schools than males and more boys stunted
than girls are. The female achievement in the social dimension is
also due to the bridging gender gap in HIV prevalence rate and
female advantage in life expectancy at birth. Wom- en perform
poorly in the Empowerment and Rep- resentation dimension in all
countries.
Gender gaps in the social dimension of the AGI are relatively
smaller. In fact, in about 41 % of countries included in the AGI,
females do better than males in the social dimension. However,
females lag seri- ously behind males in the two other
dimensions.
The gender gaps are more pronounced in the po- litical and
institutional representation dimension. These gaps are discussed in
detail under sub-sec- tion 3.2 (see Table 3.2).
Performance gaps between the top 10 and bottom 10 countries are
staggering. For example, the bot- tom 10 countries have AGI values
that are about half or less that of the values for the top four
coun- tries. There is only one Western African country in the Top
10 AGI countries. In contrast, there are more West African
countries in the bottom 10 countries than other sub-regions.
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Country
Value Gender gaps 2019 2009-2019b 2009-2019b
Algeria 0.364 0.353 1.123 0.122 Angola 0.567 0.700 1.022 0.255
Benin 0.433 0.728 0.776 0.144 Botswana 0.537 0.886 0.988 0.177
Burkina Faso 0.384 0.623 0.871 0.105
Burundi 0.538 0.527 1.071 0.275 Cabo Verde 0.655 0.706 0.880 0.453
Cameroon 0.459 0.662 0.667 0.219 Central African Republic 0.381
0.811 0.703 0.097 Chad 0.264 0.185 0.634 0.157 Comoros 0.240 0.633
0.943 0.023 Congo 0.410 0.509 1.034 0.130 Congo Democratic Republic
0.373 0.613 0.963 0.088
Côte d’Ivoire 0.409 0.746 0.833 0.110 Egypt 0.353 0.459 1.008 0.095
Eritrea 0.412 0.476 0.888 0.166 Ethiopia 0.487 0.542 0.863 0.247
Gabon 0.456 0.713 1.013 0.131 Gambia 0.353 0.322 1.037 0.132 Ghana
0.517 0.674 0.984 0.208 Guinea 0.512 0.693 0.719 0.270 Guinea
Bissau 0.446 0.631 0.855 0.164
Kenya 0.522 0.703 1.001 0.203 Lesotho 0.776 0.790 1.281 0.463
Liberia 0.506 0.666 0.884 0.220 Libya 0.416 0.450 1.038 0.154
Madagascar 0.630 0.795 1.089 0.289 Malawi 0.524 0.661 0.800 0.273
Mali 0.329 0.473 0.785 0.096 Mauritania 0.311 0.425 0.966 0.074
Mauritius 0.455 0.654 1.223 0.118
Morocco 0.426 0.375 1.108 0.187
Mozambique 0.649 0.640 0.955 0.447
Namibia 0.797 0.792 1.294 0.494
24
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Country
Value Gender gaps 2019 2009-2019b 2009-2019b
Niger 0.320 0.510 0.548 0.117 Nigeria 0.372 0.627 0.952 0.086
Rwanda 0.761 0.662 1.064 0.626 Sao Tome and Principe 0.494 0.671
0.972 0.184 Senegal 0.504 0.666 0.863 0.222 Seychelles 0.738 0.832
1.071 0.451 Sierra Leone 0.328 0.437 0.691 0.117
Somalia 0.387 0.472 0.980 0.125 South Africa 0.768 0.686 1.062
0.621 Sudan 0.316 0.389 1.054 0.077 Eswatini 0.442 0.739 0.689
0.170 Togo 0.401 0.637 1.083 0.094 Tunisia 0.630 0.657 1.205 0.315
Uganda 0.613 0.663 0.916 0.379 United Republic of Tanzania 0.618
0.507 0.965 0.482 Zambia 0.624 0.645 1.072 0.351 Zimbabwe 0.676
0.693 0.986 0.452
25
4.2 Robustness Analysis
To defend the objectivity of the index uncertainty analysis is done
to test its robustness of the AGI. This will help to improve the
transparency and ac- ceptability of the index. The purpose will be
to as- sess how uncertainty in the underlying variables transmits
through the structure of the index and affects its values. The
following approach will be adopted to assess uncertainties:
Inclusion and exclusion of individual indicators will be undertaken
to assess whether any particular in- dicator has undue influence in
determining the level of gender inequality.
• Using alternative data normalization procedures to see the extent
to which country rankings change; and
• Using different aggregation methodology In all, three approaches
were tested-using aspi- rational maximum goalposts adopting
arithmetic within dimension and geometric across dimensions and
using geometric aggregation both within and across dimensions.
While the index values change a bit with the different aggregation
methods country ranking remained consistent.
The results of two aggregating methods - aggregating sub-indices
gaps and aggregating dimension gaps using geometric method- is
presented in Figure 3.4. The AGI adopted measuring gender gaps at
sub-in- dices level. As can be seen from the figure. the AGI values
remain unchanged for a majority of the coun- tries.
Notes:
a. The index is constructed based on data mainly supplied by
National Statistical Offices. In some cases timates from
international data sources have been used or estimates made by the
authors where data are missing. b. Data are the most recent
available for the period specified
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4.3 Dimension Gap Analysis
Analyzing the AGI from the angle of individual dimensions reveals
some interesting dynamics. For example, while African women and
girls appear to be doing better in educational attainment-including
tertiary level-in a number of countries, this has not been
translated into gender equality in labour market outcomes. At the
level of the continent, the gender wage/salary gap from all sectors
is about 26 %.
This is higher than the global average of around 23%. UN Women
underscores that if action is not taken now, it might take another
68 years to bridge the gender wage gap globally6. This is partly
attributable to labour market segmentation, which is a persistent
source of economic disadvantage for women discriminatory social
norms and women’s disproportionate share of unpaid care and
domestic work. For example, women’s share of time use for unpaid
care and domestic work ranges from 66.6 % in Cabo Verde to nearly
92 % in Mali7.
Fewer women own businesses than men do and women are more likely to
be in precarious jobs. For example, female to male ratio in "not in
vulnerable employment" (the reverse of being in vulnerable
employment) is less than 0.1 in Guinea, Mozambique and Sierra
Leone. It is less than 50 % (0.5) for 41.2 % of the countries in
the region. However, more than one quarter of countries the reverse
holds true. In Algeria Cameroon Comoros Libya Mauritius. Morocco
Namibia Senegal Seychelles South Africa. Somalia Sudan and Tunisia
more men are in precarious jobs (see Table 3.3 and 3.4 a).
The health sub-dimension shows that boys under the age of five are
more likely to suffer malnutrition- the gender gap ranges from
0.868 in Guinea to 3.500 in Burundi. On the other hand, women are
more likely to be infected with HIV than men are (see Table 3.4
b).
Empowerment and Representative Dimension
Women’s limited political participation. institutional
representation and participation in decision - making continue to
persist due to historical discrimination practices such as gender
segregation of occupation. The gender gaps in the empowerment and
representation dimension of the AGI are striking. especially in top
management position in firms (see Table 3.5). Affirmative action
remains the most vital option to bridge the gender gaps in this
dimension.
6 UN Women 2018. 7 Charmes 2019.
0.200 0.300 0.400 0.500 0.600 0.700 0.800 0.900
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
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4.4 Climate change impact on the well- being of women and men
It would have been desirable to incorporate a climate change-energy
dimension into the AGI, but lack of gender-disaggregated data on
climate change and access to energy has not made it pos- sible to
do so. However, the report does not lose sight of the fact that
negative impacts of climate could erode the progress made in
bridging the gender gap in the social dimension, and to some
extent, the economic dimensions of the AGI.
The adverse effects of climate change are already being felt in
Africa. Agricultural productivity and food security, reduced
biodiversity and ecosys- tems and water resources are some of the
areas where climate change impacts are being felt. For example, the
effects of the 2010-2012 droughts on food security in the Horn of
Africa are well known. Scientific forecast indicates that warming
in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to be above global average. The
implication is that water availability for livelihood will be
limited because of frequent droughts and changes in rainfall
patterns. Where livelihood systems are tied to rainfall.
Rainfall variability trails household incomes and sustainability of
livelihoods.
There is a differentiated impact of climate change There is a
differentiated impact of climate change effects on women and men.
In most countries food processing, water and firewood collection
are traditional female gender roles. Women’s livelihood strategies
are also disproportionately linked to the natural resources
sector-crop pro- duction, collection of forestry products and the
post-harvest fisheries sector.
With increased droughts and desertification, women will have to
walk longer distances to collect water and firewood, leaving them
with little time to engage in economic activities. One study in
Tanzania for example, indicates that the amount of time females
spend collecting water and fuel wood is up to 250 hours and 700
hours per person per year respectively. Distance to fuel wood
sources could be up to five kilometres. Sometimes girls have to
forgo their education to fetch wood for the family, trapping them
in in- ter-generational poverty.
Climate shocks also affect women’s livelihoods by wiping out crops,
reducing opportunities for employment, pushing up food prices and
de- stroying property. Unless deliberate policies are put in place,
gender gaps in labour markets out- comes including wages would be
wider with seri- ous implications not just for women but also for
families and society as a whole.
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4.5 Gender Equality and Women’s Reproductive Health
Co un
tr y
Te en
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Co un
tr y
Te en
ag e
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4.5.1 Introduction
Gender norms, roles and power relations can influ- ence health
outcomes and affect women’s attain- ment of mental, physical and
reproductive health. Gender inequality limits access to quality
health services and contributes to avoidable morbidity and
mortality rates in women throughout the life- course. The World
Health Organization (WHO) ac- knowledges that gender is an
important determi- nant of health in two ways:
• gender inequality leads to health risks for wom- en and girls
globally; and
• addressing gender norms and roles leads to a better understanding
of how the social con- struction of identity and unbalanced power
relations between men and women affect the risks, health-seeking
behaviour and health out- comes of men and women.
Generally, women are accorded low status and are held back by
societal perceptions of a wom- an’s role. Thus, limiting the
choices they are able to make. Sexual and reproductive health (SRH)
ser- vices are essential for women to have the number of children
they want, when they want them and to deliver their babies safely
and have healthy new born babies. However, the decision to choose
is of- ten entangled in a web of gender power relations and safe
motherhood not given the priority it de- serves.
Violence against women is another challenge to the realization of
women’s right to live dignified lives. It is a complex phenomenon
shaped by forces that operate at the individual, relationship,
community and societal levels. In all societies, women and girls
are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts
across income, class and ethnic lines. Key contributing factors to
this state of affairs include but are not limited to cultural norms
that support male dominance over women, low educa- tional levels of
men and women, and policies and laws that discriminate against
women.
4.5.2 Women’s reproductive health issues
The AGI assesses gender gaps in three dimensions. While women
specific indicators are important, in- cluding them in the index
will introduce conceptual flaws. However, analyzing some women’s
specific indicators that are impacted by gender power re- lations
and entrenched discriminations based on gender is useful. This
section will examine the fol- lowing women reproductive health
issues:
• Adolescent pregnancies and birth • Unmet need for family planning
• Use of modern contraceptive methods • Skilled attendants of
births • Fertility rate for women aged 20-24 • Prevalence of female
genital mutilation/cutting • Violence against women • Maternal
deaths; and • Early marriages.
4.5.3 Early marriages
In a number of African countries, marriages (some- times forced)
begin early and lengthen the period of fertility. Contraceptive
prevalence rate is low yet there is a high unmet need for family
planning. Early marriage and childbirth not only compromise the
health of the mother and child but also limit future opportunities.
Studies have shown that the risk of death during childbirth is five
times higher in teenage births, in part because their bodies are
not fully developed11. Early childbearing also tends to prevent
girls from achieving higher levels of educa- tion. This often
destines them to low-skilled jobs at best, intensifying the
socio-economic disadvantag- es faced by women and
inter-generational trans- mission of poverty.
In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 12% of girls in the age group 20-24
years were married by the time they were 15 years old. and 38 % by
age 18. Early mar- riage is more common in Western and Central Af-
rica where over 41 % of young women aged 20-24 years were married
by their 18 birthday.
11 Rowbottom, S. (2007).
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Teenage pregnancies, births, and births to moth- ers aged 20-24
years are also high, ranging from 0.5 % in Tunisia to 21.6 % in
Zimbabwe; and 17.1 births and 338 births per 1.000 women aged 20-24
years in Seychelles and Niger respectively. Contra- ceptives
prevalence among young women is unac- ceptably low in a number of
countries. While skilled attendants of births are at acceptable
levels in a number of countries, there is room for improve- ment.
For example, only about one-third or less of births to young women
aged 15-24 year in Ethio- pia, Niger, Nigeria and South Sudan are
assisted by skilled health personnel. The corresponding figure for
Guinea is less than half 46.6 %.
4.5.4 Maternal deaths
Maternal deaths are unacceptably high in a number of countries,
ranging from a low of 9 per 100,000 live births in Libya to a high
of 1360 per 100,000 live births in Sierra Leone. Yet maternal
deaths are preventable. Women die because of compli- cations during
and following pregnancy and child- birth. Most of these
complications develop during pregnancy and most are preventable or
treatable if women seek health care on time. For example, severe
bleeding after birth can kill a healthy woman within hours if she
is unattended. Injecting oxytocin immediately after childbirth
effectively reduces the risk of bleeding. However, poverty, long
distances to health facilities, lack of information, inadequate
services and negative cultural practices continue to pose a
challenge to safe motherhood.
In fact, in sub-Saharan Africa, the lifetime risk of maternal death
- that is the probability of becom- ing pregnant and of dying
because pregnancy, which accumulates across a woman’s reproductive
years - is 1 in 36 women. The corresponding figures for other
regions are-1 in 200 women in South Asia, 1 in 930 in East Asia and
the Pacific, 1 in 4100 in North America and 1 in 9.600 in Western
Europe12.
4.5.5 Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a form of violence
against women and girls. It is an ex- treme violation of the human
rights of women and
girls, a danger to sexual and reproductive health. In spite of the
serious health implications and the psy- chological trauma
associated with it, the practice continues to persist in a number
of countries. At least three-quarters of young women aged 15-24 in
Egypt, Gambia and Guinea have undergone FGM/C (see Table
5.1).
In recent years, a number of countries have issued legislations
banning the practice, but sustained advocacy is needed to strike a
balance between knowledge of the dangers of the practice and atti-
tudinal change.
4.5.6 Intimate partner violence
Violence directed at women is often based on so- cially defined
norms of masculinity and femininity. It includes physical, sexual,
and psychological abuse, threats, coercion, arbitrary deprivation
of liberty and economic deprivation13. Violence against women is
rooted in structural inequalities between men and women. It is
rights violation, a public health challenge, and a barrier to
civic, so- cial, political, and economic participation of wom- en.
It undermines not only the safety, dignity, over- all health
status, and human rights of women who experience it, but also the
public health, economic stability, and security of nations.
Unfortunately, data on domestic violence are not frequently
collected and only a handful of Afri- can countries have data. Only
18 of the 54 African countries have data on violence perpetuated by
an intimate partner. The data covers the experiences of women aged
15-34 years in the last 12 years preceding the surveys from which
the data are compiled.
Prevalence of intimate partner sexual and physical violence ranges
from 10.9 % in Mauritania to 38.9 % in Zimbabwe (see Table
5.1).
The health consequences of domestic violence can be particularly
serious. Survivors may suffer a wide range of other physical
injuries. Psychological, emotional and social consequences can be
equally severe-post-traumatic stress. depression, fear, or anxiety
and social stigma are some of the conse- quences.
12 UNICEF (2017) State of the World Children’s Report Statistical
Table 7 13 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence against Women (1993)
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CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATION While there has been progress
towards bridging gender gaps, women continue to lag behind men
especially in economic and empowerment dimen- sions of the AGI.
Women are caught in a web of deprivations and limited opportunities
that rein- force each other to keep them in economic and so- cial
disadvantages. Sex segregation of occupation intersects with other
discriminatory practices to shape women’s economic disadvantages.
Increas- ing female education has not had the expected effect on
employment opportunities in high-end positions for women. Women’s
work is often un- der-valued; they are over-represented in clerical
work and elementary occupations, which attract low
remuneration.
Women’s unpaid care and domestic work respon- sibilities also have
huge implications for women’s labour market outcomes, as they tend
to be in the informal sector where they can combine childcare and
paid work. This is in spite of the fact that un- paid care and
domestic work play an important role in families and subsidises
public care costs while constraining women’s employment options.
Men disproportionately hold parliamentary representa- tion.
ministerial positions and other decision-mak- ing positions.
Without adequate representation of women. women-specific issues may
be relegated to the background or at best attract low
priority.
While a conducive legal and policy environment ex- ists in a number
of countries for gender equality. there appears to be a lag in
implementation. Adap- tive preference resulting in entrenched
discrimina- tory practices and traditional concepts of feminin- ity
also prevent women from taking advantage of existing laws.
Finally, limited availability of policy relevant gender statistics
poses a challenge including some very im- portant aspects of gender
inequality in the AGI.
Gender equality is critical for the achievement of the SDGs as well
as Africa’s transformation agenda. It will therefore be to the
advantage of African gov- ernments to implement and enforce
existing poli- cies and legislation and to enact new ones where
they are lacking.
For example, paid maternity leave and public pro- vision of
childcare services are important for wom- en’s labour force
participation. Work place pro- vision of childcare services is
inexpensive and is mutually beneficial to both workers and
employers. Minimum wage legislation is another important av- enue
to bridge gender gap in earnings.
To accelerate the achievement of the goal on gen- der equality,
African governments should consider taking affirmative action to
increase participation of women in top decision-making positions.
Coun- tries that are yet to achieve the 30 % female quote should
intensify their efforts to achieve that.
Efforts should also be made to reduce its drudgery through
provision of services such as access to wa- ter within reasonable
distance, access to modern energy and access to modern energy
technologies and services. Unpaid care work also needs to be
redistributed more equally, between women and men, and between
households and society. Pub- lic action is needed to create decent
jobs, support women to take up employment opportunities and empower
them to shape their working environ- ments.
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
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Tables of results
Average gender gap in dimensions
Country
Value Gender gaps 2019 2009-2019b 2009-2019b
Algeria 0.364 0.353 1.123 0.122 Angola 0.567 0.700 1.022 0.255
Benin 0.433 0.728 0.776 0.144 Botswana 0.537 0.886 0.988 0.177
Burkina Faso 0.384 0.623 0.871 0.105 Burundi 0.538 0.527 1.071
0.275 Cabo Verde 0.655 0.706 0.880 0.453 Cameroon 0.459 0.662 0.667
0.219 Central African Republic 0.381 0.811 0.703 0.097 Chad 0.264
0.185 0.634 0.157 Comoros 0.240 0.633 0.943 0.023 Congo 0.410 0.509
1.034 0.130 Congo Democratic Republic 0.373 0.613 0.963 0.088
Côte d’Ivoire 0.409 0.746 0.833 0.110 Egypt 0.353 0.459 1.008 0.095
Eritrea 0.412 0.476 0.888 0.166 Ethiopia 0.487 0.542 0.863 0.247
Gabon 0.456 0.713 1.013 0.131 Gambia 0.353 0.322 1.037 0.132 Ghana
0.517 0.674 0.984 0.208 Guinea 0.512 0.693 0.719 0.270 Guinea
Bissau 0.446 0.631 0.855 0.164 Kenya 0.522 0.703 1.001 0.203
Lesotho 0.776 0.790 1.281 0.463 Liberia 0.506 0.666 0.884 0.220
Libya 0.416 0.450 1.038 0.154 Madagascar 0.630 0.795 1.089 0.289
Malawi 0.524 0.661 0.800 0.273 Mali 0.329 0.473 0.785 0.096
Mauritania 0.311 0.425 0.966 0.074 Mauritius 0.455 0.654 1.223
0.118 Morocco 0.426 0.375 1.108 0.187 Mozambique 0.649 0.640 0.955
0.447 Namibia 0.797 0.792 1.294 0.494 Niger 0.320 0.510 0.548
0.117
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
35
Average gender gap in dimensions
Country
Sao Tome and Principe 0.494 0.671 0.972 0.184
Senegal 0.504 0.666 0.863 0.222
Seychelles 0.738 0.832 1.071 0.451
Sierra Leone 0.328 0.437 0.691 0.117
Somalia 0.387 0.472 0.980 0.125
South Africa 0.768 0.686 1.062 0.621
Sudan 0.316 0.389 1.054 0.077
Swaziland 0.442 0.739 0.689 0.170
Togo 0.401 0.637 1.083 0.094
Tunisia 0.630 0.657 1.205 0.315
Uganda 0.613 0.663 0.916 0.379
United Republic of Tanzania 0.618 0.507 0.965 0.482
Zambia 0.624 0.645 1.072 0.351
Zimbabwe 0.676 0.693 0.986 0.452
Notes a. The index is constructed based on data mainly supplied by
National Statistical Offices. In some cases estmates from
internation- al data sources have been used or estmates made by the
authors where data are missins b. Data are the most recent
available for the period specified
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT36
Ta bl
e 3.
3: I
di ca
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
37
Co un
tr y
Em pl
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT38 AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL &
STATISTICAL REPORT
Co un
tr y
Em pl
Ta bl
e 3.
Co un
tr y
Pr im
ar y
sc ho
ol c
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT40 AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL &
STATISTICAL REPORT
Co un
tr y
Pr im
ar y
sc ho
ol c
N OT
ES a.
D at
a ar
e th
e m
Co un
tr y
Pr im
ar y
sc ho
ol c
Table 3.4b: Indicator gaps: Health Dimension
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT
Country
Life expectancy at birth gap
Health Gaps
Algeria 0.994 1.041 0.989
Angola 0.970 1.935 1.383
Benin 0.994 1.129 1.070
Botswana 0.524 1.198 1.131 Burkina Faso 0.988 1.177 0.919 Burundi
0.983 3.500 1.274
Cabo Verde 0.982 1.113 1.117 Cameroon 0.865 1.129 0.966
Central African Republic 0.957 1.306 1.760 Chad 0.952 2.364
0.245
Comoros 0.953 1.139 1.111 Congo 0.892 1.047 2.006 Congo Democratic
Republic 0.959 1.294 1.079
Côte d’Ivoire 0.882 1.197 1.094 Djibouti 0.976 1.138 1.273 Egypt
0.994 1.074 1.049 Equatorial Guinea 0.964 1.254 1.028
Eritrea 0.994 1.138 1.172 Ethiopia 0.983 1.287 1.173
Gabon 0.958 1.111 1.088 Gambia 0.971 1.097 1.271 Ghana 0.977 1.124
0.965 Guinea 0.941 0.868 1.079 Guinea Bissau 0.969 1.162 1.161
Kenya 0.881 1.228 1.076 Lesotho 0.666 1.424 1.642 Liberia 0.977
1.184 0.989 Libya 0.992 1.065 1.213 Madagascar 0.994 1.462 1.082
Malawi 0.861 1.155 1.273 Mali 0.982 1.209 0.886
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
43
NOTES a. Data are the most recent available during the period
specified.
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT
Country
Life expectancy at birth gap
Health Gaps
Mauritania 0.988 1.108 1.137
Mauritius 0.988 1.270 1.257
Morocco 0.994 1.121 1.076
Mozambique 0.525 1.240 1.673
Namibia 0.893 1.134 2.335
Niger 0.988 1.213 0.973
Nigeria 0.969 1.150 1.107
Rwanda 0.884 1.503 1.124
Senegal 0.988 1.068 1.132
Seychelles 0.994 1.038 0.933
Somalia 0.988 1.145 1.156
Sudan 0.988 1.189 1.090
Swaziland 0.050 1.227 1.688 Togo 0.965 1.035 1.838 Tunisia 0.994
1.049 1.255 Uganda 0.871 1.289 0.803
United Republic of Tanzania 0.904 1.176 0.978 Zambia 0.860 1.231
1.901
Zimbabwe 0.838 1.225 1.162
Table 3.5: Indicator gaps: Empowerment and Representation
Dimension
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT
Country
ownership)
Empowerment and representation dimension gender gaps
2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a
Algeria 0.598 0.218 0.073 0.274 0.023 Angola 0.326 0.391 0.272
0.246 0.122
Benin 0.202 0.021 0.128 0.150 0.791
Botswana 1.023 0.051 0.117 0.460 0.163 Burkina Faso 0.291 0.068
0.065 0.254 0.094
Burundi 0.167 0.598 0.359 0.237 0.160 Cabo Verde 0.873 0.257 1.021
0.232 0.184
Cameroon 0.216 0.366 0.112 0.365 0.261 Central African Re-
public
0.181 0.037 0.128 0.251 0.104
Chad 0.335 0.125 0.143 0.268 0.103
Comoros 0.054 0.008 0.005 0.253 0.147
Congo 0.220 0.107 0.072 0.048 0.173 Congo Democratic Republic
0.180 0.032 0.117 0.060 0.088
Côte d’Ivoire 0.087 0.066 0.192 0.007 0.133
Djibouti 0.249 0.304 0.058 0.244 0.131
Egypt 0.265 0.120 0.131 0.275 0.020 Equatorial Guinea 0.114 0.165
0.022 0.217 0.144
Eritrea 0.567 0.229 0.117 0.266 0.050
Ethiopia 0.416 0.557 1.021 0.763 0.016 Gabon 0.146 0.155 0.135
0.253 0.096
Gambia 0.269 0.059 0.032 0.167 0.605 Ghana 0.672 0.090 0.221 0.242
0.141 Guinea 0.428 0.228 0.158 0.176 0.346 Guinea Bis- sau 0.176
0.103 0.143 0.245 0.281
Kenya 0.185 0.251 0.301 0.247 0.121
Lesotho 1.343 0.241 0.267 0.144 0.530
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL REPORT
45
NOTES a. Data are the most recent available during the period
specified.
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT
Country
Cabinet Mi- nisters gap
ownership)
Empowerment and representation dimension gender gaps
2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a 2009-2019 a
Liberia 0.453 0.076 0.104 0.162 0.655 Libya 0.484 0.135 0.189 0.274
0.046
Madagascar 0.769 0.190 0.135 0.200 0.355 Malawi 0.561 0.145 0.117
0.247 0.583 Mali 0.117 0.041 0.180 0.179 0.098 Mauritania 0.042
0.200 0.221 0.276 0.016 Mauritius 0.751 0.075 0.026 0.345 0.135
Morocco 0.513 0.172 0.177 0.258 0.078 Mozambique 0.255 0.622 0.548
0.185 0.459 Namibia 1.065 0.626 0.212 0.056 0.422 Niger 0.102 0.149
0.146 0.222 0.085 Nigeria 0.153 0.005 0.116 0.159 0.691 Rwanda
0.555 1.291 1.021 0.269 0.210 Sao Tome and Principe 0.503 0.115
0.140 0.155 0.144
Senegal 0.162 0.690 0.168 0.245 0.130 Seychelles 1.271 0.216 1.021
0.232 0.147 Sierra Leone 0.224 0.085 0.221 0.267 0.044 Somalia
0.066 0.270 0.145 0.140 0.094 South Africa 0.822 0.679 0.722 0.233
0.369 South Sudan 0.368 0.311 0.834 0.260 0.072 Sudan 0.478 0.404
0.043 0.264 0.004 Swaziland 0.116 0.082 0.256 0.007 0.340 Togo
0.006 0.159 0.238 0.274 0.363 Tunisia 0.641 0.410 0.123 0.247 0.307
Uganda 0.553 0.480 0.525 0.240 0.147 United Re- public of
Tanzania
0.446 0.554 0.570 0.272 0.383
Zambia 0.577 0.164 0.256 0.165 0.624 Zimbabwe 0.724 0.479 0.359
0.203 0.336
AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
REPORT
RESULTS BY REGIONAL ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES (RECS) AMU = Arab Maghreb
Union: Algeria, Libya, Mauri- tania, Morocco and Tunisia
COMESA: Burundi, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Djibouti,
Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethio- pia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe
EAC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ugan- da and United
Republic of Tanzania
ECCAS: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Afri- can Republic, Chad,
Congo, Congo Democratic Re- public, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,
Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe
ECOWAS: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bis- sau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Le- one and Togo
SADC: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Congo Demo- cratic Republic,
Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Ma-
lawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa,
United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Sahel G5: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Niger
Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe
East Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mada- gascar, Rwanda, Seychelles,
Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania
North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Mo- rocco, Sudan
and Tunisia
Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Le- sotho, Malawi,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
West Africa: Same as ECOWAS
B. Africa Gender Index by REC
46 AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
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B. Economic Dimension sub-Index
B. Empowerment & ParRcipaRon Dimension sub-Index
47AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
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AFRICA GENDER INDEX 2019 -- METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL
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REPORT50
To help understand the dynamics of gender equality and how it
affects Africa’s development, the African Development Bank Group
and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) are
publishing the first Africa Gender Equality Index. The Index, which
covers 51 of Africa’s 54 countries and draws together a large body
of data, offers a snapshot of the economic, social and
representation gaps between men and women.
Its findings will give African leaders, policymakers, economists
and civil society the evidence they need to begin dismantling the
barriers that prevent women from making a full contribution to the
continent’s development. In addition, the report identifies five
thematic areas where concerted action could make a real difference
to women’s ability to contribute to, and benefit from, Africa’s
development — areas that African countries, the Bank and UNECA can
readily incorporate into national development strategies and
investment programmes.
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