The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) is an
index
Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index''
* The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...
that measures discrimination against women. It solely focuses on
social institutions
An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...
which are formal and informal laws, social norms and customary practices that impact the roles of women.
The SIGI is a multifaceted measure that focuses on four dimensions: Discrimination in the family, Restricted physical integrity, Restricted access to productive and financial resources, and Restricted civil liberties.
Construction
SIGI is based on a selection of indicators from the
Gender, Institutions and Development (GID) Database. It specifically draws on the GID's social institutions variables that are grouped into five categories or sub-indices:
Family Code, Physical Integrity,
Civil Liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
, Son Preference (measured as the incidence of
missing women), and
Ownership Rights. Family code delineates the social institutions that have an effect on a woman's power to make household decisions regarding their family. Variables of this sub-index include financial
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
,
parental authority and
marriage rights. The civil liberties aspect focuses on women's freedom with respects to social participation. Its variables include freedoms such as dress, and ability to move outside of the home for women. Physical integrity includes variables that measure incidence of
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
.
Female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...
, laws banning
sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...
or rape,
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
, and
domestic violence
Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
, and women who are reported missing are all variables included in this measure. Ownership rights focuses on the access women have to property. Whether or not women are allowed to own land and or houses and their access to bank loans and credit are foci under this sub-index.
Son preference
Son preference is the ancient and cross-cultural human preference for male (rather than female) offspring. Son preference has been demonstrated across all social classes, from "succession laws in royal families to land inheritance in peasant famili ...
, also sometimes referred to as missing women, consists of variables looking at gender bias in mortality including
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
and missing person reports.
The index is an unweighted average of these 5 sub-indices and measures on a scale from 0 to 1 the level of gender inequality in social institutions (higher levels indicate greater inequality). Each term in the SIGI formula is squared to allow for partial comparison. The indicators that compose the SIGI would yield uniformly high or even perfect scores for
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
member countries, given that legal discrimination against women is not present in most of these countries. However, significant gender inequality may nevertheless exist in OECD member countries; therefore, SIGI scores are only calculated for non-OECD countries to avoid misleading comparisons.
Applications
Econometric analysis using the SIGI have shown the significant impact of social institutions on gender equality outcomes. For example, higher levels of gender inequality in
social institutions
An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...
are strongly correlated to lower participation of women in paid labor.
However, higher levels of inequality are not necessarily associated with lower levels of per capita income. Some high-income countries in the
Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...
region, for example, have high levels of gender inequality. Education, on the other hand, seems to be a strong promoter of women's rights. The higher the percentage of women who can read and write, the lower the discrimination they suffer in social institutions.
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See also
*
Gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...
*
Gender inequality
Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which people are not treated equally on the basis of gender. This inequality can be caused by gender discrimination or sexism. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology ...
*
Gender Parity Index
*
Gender Empowerment Measure
*
Gender Gap Index
The Global Gender Gap Report is an index designed to measure gender equality. It was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum.
It "assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male an ...
*
Gender-related Development Index
The Gender Development Index (GDI) is an index designed to measure gender equality.
GDI, together with the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), was introduced in 1995 in the Human Development Report written by the United Nations Development Progra ...
References
Sources
* Boris Branisa, Stephan Klasen, Maria Ziegler, Denis Drechsler, and Johannes Jütting (2013)
The institutional basis of gender inequality: the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Feminist Economics, Published online: 11 Dec 2013.
* Boris Branisa, Stephan Klasen, and Maria Ziegler (2013)
Gender Inequality in Social Institutions and Gendered Development Outcomes World Development, Volume 45, May 2013, Pages 252–268
*Johannes Jütting, Christian Morrisson, Jeff Dayton Johnson, and Denis Drechsler (2008): Measuring Gender (In)Equality: The OECD Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base, Journal of Human Development, Volume 9, Issue 1 March 2008, pages 65 – 86.
External links
Social Institutions and Gender Index official website
Gender equality
International rankings
OECD
2007 introductions
Social science indices