Introducing the Historical Gender Equality Index

Abstract

Despite recent progress, women are still disadvantaged by their greater domestic labor commitments and impaired access to well-paid jobs; and, in extreme cases, denied the right to live. This has consequences for the wellbeing of individuals and economic development. Although tools to evaluate country performance in gender equality, especially composite indicators, have been developed since the 1990s, a historical perspective is lacking. This study introduces a composite index of gender equality covering 129 countries from 1950 to 2003. This index measures gender equality in four dimensions (socioeconomic, health, household, and politics). The index shows substantial progress in gender equality, though there is little evidence that less genderequal countries are catching up. Goldin's "quiet revolution" hypothesis is tested as an explanation for this observation, but fails to provide a good explanation. Rather, the long-term institutional and historical characteristics of countries are the main obstacles to convergence.

Can the historical gender gap index deepen our understanding of economic development?

“…Extending this line of research to a historical period, Perrin (2014) proposed a first attempt to measure the size of the gender gap in the past-which is further developed in the current paper. Recently, using a similar methodology, Dilli et al (2019) calculated a gender equality index for a collection of 129 countries during the period 1950-2003. They found that countries made substantial progress in gender equality over the past 50 years but that little convergence between countries could be observed.…”

Do managers sleep well? The role of gender, gender empowerment and economic development

“…For many European countries, elevating women’s status by reducing structural barriers has been a primary goal. The United Nations identified gender inequality as a key barrier to human development and has been measuring women’s status as a key component of the human development report for 25 years [ 42 ]. We draw upon a larger literature showing gender development at the country-level is associated with greater gender equality at the individual-level.…”

Gender Equality Index of the Autonomous Communities of Spain: A Multidimensional Analysis

“…The progress of countries or territories to reduce the gender gap is essential to promote development (Adina, 2014) and positive social changes. Although inequality is obvious everywhere, its nature and degree are heterogeneous (Dilli, 2018). But it has a negative impact on the economies as well as in politics and social institutions (Agarwal, 2018).…”

“…In order to establish a concise diagnosis of gender inequality, we need to quantify its level by measuring the asymmetry either from the percentage gap or by establishing ratios between men and women. In this case, many organizations have proposed different types of gender indicators (Adina, 2014;Bericat, 2012;Dilli, 2018) to monitor the progress of public policies against discrimination. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) monitors progress in gender equity since 2013 through the Gender Equality Index (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2017) with 31 variables that are classified in six dimensions (work, money, knowledge, age, power, and health).…”