Social Institutions and Gender Equality

Indicators and Measurement Tools

Denis Drechsler

Johannes P. Jütting

OECD Development Centre

Rome December 2007

• OECD members and partners

• Research and policy

• Policy communities

• Different actors: private, public, etc.

A bridge between …

OECD’s Knowledge Centre on Development

Gender Equality: Intrinsic and instrumental values

• One of the Millennium Development Goals

• A neglected driver for economic growth

• A double dividend for OECD countries

• More sustainable growth in non-OECD countries

Gender equality has many dimensions…

Traditional Building Blocksof Gender Equality

Political Empowerment

EducationalAttainment

Health and Wellbeing

SocialInstitutions

Economic Participation

…and also involves social institutions

The OECD Data Base on Gender

Data on Social Institutions

GID-DBThe OECD Gender, Institutions

and Development Data Base

…and its innovation:

What are social institutions?

• Social institutions include norms, traditions and family law

• They may arguably be the most important determinants of gender equality:

– They have generally been in existence for centuries;

– They are extremely difficult to change; and

– They frequently override formal laws and regulations

• They are difficult to identify and measure

Traditi

ons

Social N

orms

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Religious Practices

Family Law

Educational Atta

inment

e.g. literacy rates

Political Empowerment,

e.g. voting rightsEconomic

Particip

ation

and Opportu

nity

e.g. labour fo

rce partic

ipation

Health and Survival,

e.g. life expectancy

How do social institutions fit in?

Gender Equality

12 innovative variables

Social Institutions Variables

• Early marriage

• Polygamy

• Parental authority

• Inheritance

• Freedom ofmovement

• Obligation to wear a veil in public

• Female genital mutilation

• Violence against women

• Missing women

• Access to land

• Access to bankloans

• Access toproperty

Ownership RightsCivil LibertiesPhysical IntegrityFamily Code

Gender inequality in social institutions

Elevated discrimination in social institutions

High discrimination in social institutions

Low discrimination in social institutions

Country not included

…not necessarily associated with per capita income

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

HIC (non OECD) LMC UMC HIC

Family Code Physical Integrity Civil Liberties Ownership Rights

Scale: 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum) = level of discrimination through social institutionsSource: GID Database

Social institutions and women in paid employment

ZWE

ZMB

YEM

VNM

VEN

URYUSAGBR

UAE

UKR

UGA

TUR

TUN

TGO

THA

TZA

SYR

CHE

SWE

SDN

LKAESP ZAF

SVK

SEN

SAU

RUS

ROUPRTPOL

PHL

PER

PRYPAN

PAK

OMN

NOR

NGA

NER

NIC

NZL

NLD

NPL

NAM

MMR

MOZ

MAR

MEXMUSMRT

MLTMLI

MYS

MWI

MDG

LUX

LBY

LBNKWT

KORKEN

JOR

JPNITA

ISRIRL

IRN

IDN

IND

ISL

HUN

HND

HTI

GNB

GRC

GHA

DEUFRA

FIN

FJI

ETH

EST

ERI

GNQ

SLV

EGY

ECU

DOM

DNKCZE

CUB

CIV

CRI

COL

CHNCHL

TCD

CAF

CAN

CMR

BFA

BGR

BRA BWA

BOL

BENBEL

BGD

BHR

AUT

AUSARMARG

AGO

DZA

ALB

020

40

60

0 .2 .4 .6 .8Institutions

Fitted values WWORKING (non-agri %)

Challenges to better data and measurement tools

• Dealing with various sources (international, national, non-governmental…)

• Confusion of policy makers? Proliferation of composite indicators

• What’s missing: – Involvement of citizens – bottom-up approach– Making statistics more attractive

The GID Data Base on Swivel

Data, explanations, comments…

…and specialised user groups

Next step:

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