SIGI 2009

OECD Development Centre

The Social Institutions and

Gender Index (SIGI)


Construction and Results

2009


The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) – Construction and Results 2009

Why measure gender equality?

• Gender equality a fundamental human right and a driver for development

• Important gender gaps in health, education, political rights, and economic opportunities, particularly in developing countries

• Better policies needed to effectively address gender inequalities



Why the SIGI?

• Existing indices of gender equality measure inequality outcomes– GDI: inequality in health, education and economic participation– GEM: women‘s social and political rights– GGI: multidimensional measure of gender differences– GEI: Socio-economic opportunities

• The SIGI measures the root causes of gender inequality– Traditions inducing inequalities (e.g. inheritance practices)– Social norms impacting on gender equality (e.g. son preference)– Cultural practices limiting the freedom of women (e.g. ogligations to be

accompanied by male guardian)



How is the SIGI constructed?

All variables are coded between 0 and 1. The value 0 means no or very low inequality and the value 1 indicates high inequality. Three of the variables (Early marriage, Female genital mutilation and Violence against women) are continuous. The other indicators are on an ordered categorical scale.

Social Institutions Variables

• Early marriage

• Polygamy

• Parental authority

• Inheritance

• Freedom ofmovement

• Freedom of dress

• Female genital mutilation

• Violence against

women

• Access to land

• Access to bankloans

• Access toproperty

Ownership RightsCivil LibertiesPhysical IntegrityFamily Code

• Missing women

Son Preference



Family Code…refers to institutions that influence the decision-making power of women in the household. The following variables are included:•Parental authority measures whether women have the right to be a legal guardian of a child during marriage, and whether women have custody rights over a child after divorce.

•Inheritance is based on formal inheritance rights of spouses.

•Early marriage measures the percentage of girls between 15 and 19 years of age who are/were ever married.

•Polygamy measures the acceptance of polygamy in the population. Countries where this information is not available are assigned scores based on the legality of polygamy.



Civil Liberties

…captures the freedom of social participation of women. It includes the following variables:•Freedom of movement indicates the freedom of women to move outside the home.

•Freedom of dress is based on the obligation of women to cover parts of their body in the public.



Physical Integrity

…comprises different indicators on violence against women.• Violence against women indicates the existence of laws against

domestic violence, sexual assault or rape, and sexual harassment.

• Female genital mutilation is the percentage of women who have undergone female genital mutilation.



Son Preference

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



Ownership Rights

…covers the access of women to several types of property.• Women’s access to land indicates whether women are allowed

and have de facto access to own land.• Women’s access to bank loans measures whether women are

allowed and have de facto access to credits.• Women’s access to property other than land covers mainly

access to real property such as houses, but also any other property.



The SIGI Formula

The SIGI is an unweighted average of the GID subindices. Each term is squared to allow partial compensation.Its values are between 0 and 1, with 0 meaning no inequality and 1 indicating complete inequality.

SIGI = ⅕ (Subindex Family Code)2 + ⅕ (Subindex Civil Liberties)2 + ⅕ (Subindex Physical Integrity)2 + ⅕ (Subindex Son Preference)2 + ⅕ (Subindex Ownership Rights)2



What does the SIGI show?• Bottom performers among 102

developing countries: Sudan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone

• Top performers: Paraguay, Croatia, Kazachstan

• Highest inequality: sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; South Asia

• Lowest inequality: Latin America; Europe and Central Asia

• Region with both high and low performers: East Asia and Pacific



How can I use the SIGI?

• Score and Ranking provide an overview of gender discrimination in social institutions

• Subindeces help locate areas of particular concern• Social Institutions Indicators offer new empirical evidence• GID Country Notes explain in depth the SIGI score and ranking• GID Statistics, including the SIGI composite measure, can be

accessed free of charge from www.oecd.org/dev/gender


For more informationwww.oecd.org/dev/

gender

SIGI 2009

Education

freedom of women

percentage of women

variablemissing women

obligation of women

gender inequalities

measure gender equality

economic valuation of

gender inequality traditions