The First Political Order

Evidence-based policymaking and the wicked problem of SDG 5 Gender Equality

“…Women’s empowerment has been shown to be a fundamental and necessary input for economic and social development. 3 The most recent empirical evidence on the negative economic and social consequences of disempowering women (such as worse governance, more conflict, less stability, worse economic performance, and slower social progress) can be found in Hudson, Bowen and Nielsen ( 2020 ). The authors assert that women’s disempowerment is pervasive and embedded in societies around the world.…”

“…Disempowerment has four dimensions: status (whether male and female groups engage as equals or as subordinate and superordinate), decision-making (whether decisions are made by one or both groups), conflict resolution (how disagreements are resolved, whether one group can be coerced against its will), and resource distribution (whether control over resources is by one or both groups). Hudson et al ( 2020 ) argue that patrilineal/fraternal networks (e.g., tribes and clans) support and encourage practices that disempower women, such as violence towards women, personal status laws benefitting men, laws that prevent women from owning property, preferences for sons over daughters, and polygyny. The authors create a women’s disempowerment index to assess the presence or absence of these harmful practices in 176 countries over 2010–2015, finding that 56 countries score low on the index (mostly OECD countries), 40 countries score high (primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and West and South Asia), and the rest are in between (Hudson et al, 2020 : 54).…”

“…Hudson et al ( 2020 ) argue that patrilineal/fraternal networks (e.g., tribes and clans) support and encourage practices that disempower women, such as violence towards women, personal status laws benefitting men, laws that prevent women from owning property, preferences for sons over daughters, and polygyny. The authors create a women’s disempowerment index to assess the presence or absence of these harmful practices in 176 countries over 2010–2015, finding that 56 countries score low on the index (mostly OECD countries), 40 countries score high (primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and West and South Asia), and the rest are in between (Hudson et al, 2020 : 54). The pervasiveness of these harmful practices against women lead the authors to conclude that “the true clash of civilizations is not about religion or ethnicity but about the subordination of women” (Hudson et al, 2020 : 377).…”

“…The authors create a women’s disempowerment index to assess the presence or absence of these harmful practices in 176 countries over 2010–2015, finding that 56 countries score low on the index (mostly OECD countries), 40 countries score high (primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and West and South Asia), and the rest are in between (Hudson et al, 2020 : 54). The pervasiveness of these harmful practices against women lead the authors to conclude that “the true clash of civilizations is not about religion or ethnicity but about the subordination of women” (Hudson et al, 2020 : 377). Thus, whether measured as workplace gender equality or as women’s empowerment, SDG 5 is a wicked problem.…”

“…We conjecture that the narrow foci of the GII and GGGI reflects an implicit focus on gender equality in the workplace rather than empowerment of women and girls. For example, neither the GII nor GGGI incorporate measures that Hudson et al ( 2020 ) see as critical components of women’s disempowerment. 6 As a result, neither the GII nor the GGGI is as comprehensive as UN SDG 5, which treats gender equality from a holistic perspective, considering voice, agency, and the empowerment of women and girls.…”