Side event on the margins of the 59 th Commission on Status of Women Human Development Report Office Milorad Kovacevic Chief of Statistics Introduction Human development is broadly defined as a process of enlarging peoples choices and freedoms to live long healthy and creative live ID: 439916
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Gender disparities in human development
Side event on the margins of the 59th Commission on Status of Women
Human Development Report Office
Milorad Kovacevic, Chief of StatisticsSlide2
Introduction
Human development is broadly defined as a process of enlarging people’s choices and freedoms to live long, healthy and creative lives; to advance other goals they have reason to value; and to engage actively in shaping development equitably and sustainably on a shared planet
.Problem:Social norms link biological sex roles
to access to opportunities control over resources ResultsDisparities in freedoms women and men have and the choices they can makeSlide3
Some freedoms/rights and the global facts:
1. The freedom to control own life, autonomy of the body, the right to have and determine choicesBetween 1990 and 2013,
maternal mortality dropped by 45% , but still - more than 280,000 maternal deaths happen every year or approximately 800 a day
About 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and two million girls under the age of 15 give birth every yearOver 30% of girls marry before age 18, around 14% before the age of 15Slide4
2. To have and to expand the sense of self-worth; the ability to influence the direction of social change towards a just social and economic orderGaps in primary and secondary education enrolment are reducing
Gaps in school attainment are reducing but with still a large variation across regionsWomen account for only 21.1% parliamentary seats globally (in 2014)Slide5
3. To have equal access to opportunities and resources
Some degree of improvement in labour market participation with a large variation across regions (LFPR)
Wage differences persist (77.4%)
Fewer women in managerial positionsGender power relations at different levels of society influence:
Priority
setting and resource allocation
Women
often absent from key decision making
arenas Slide6
How to Quantify Gender Disparities?Previous analysis was based on a set of indicators, a “portfolio of gender indicators”
Some advantages of having a composite index:One focused measure synthesizes information, attracts attention, detects the overall change, and trigger a discussion
Allows a combination of relevant indicators within a well-defined conceptual frameworkSensitive to a change in any component
Allows an easy unpacking to components for a deeper analysis Generally easy to communicate, good for advocacy and raising awarenessSlide7
Gender Inequality Index Gender inequalities in empowerment:
Freedom to control own life, autonomy of the body, the right to have and determine choices (MMR, ABR)
Freedom/Right to influence the direction of social change towards a just social and economic order (Share of population with some secondary education; Share of parliamentary seats)Equal access to opportunities and resources (
LFPR) Slide8
Gender Inequality Index Sheds light on the position of women in the society
Insights in inequity in major areas of empowerment and HDThe component indicators highlight areas in need of critical policy interventionStimulates proactive thinking and public policies But
Was conceived as an association-sensitive inequality indexHence, a complex functional formFocused on adult, working age, populationHowever, disparities are present over the entire life course
Can be modified to be, perhaps, a women (disadvantage) indexSlide9
Gender Development Index A simple ratio of separate HDIs for women and men
Measures gender gap in three basic dimensions of HD In 2014, the average GDI (world) was 0.920, indicating that on average female HDI is about 8% lower than male HDIVariation across countries, HDI groups and regionsSlide10
Gender Development Index Same indicators as HDI:
LE adjusted for biological differenceIncome is estimated using wages and shares of LFPR (problematic, wages available for less than 80 countries)Income is log-transformed, difference is attenuated
It reveals that the gender gap exists at all levels of HDHigh correlation (0.7) tells that the smaller gender gap is associated with higher HDISlide11
Data issues persist
Data availability and quality remain issuesGaps in data on time use, informal work, wages, local government representation, violence against women, etc.Lack of time seriesNew SDG indicators will refer to land ownership, financial independence, decision making at home and wider
Data revolution may bring better use of existing data including admin data, probably enhanced use of “big data”Slide12
Policy implications
HD gender indices can be used creatively to inform policy debates
Looking beyond mere sex disaggregation of data adds value to the policy debate
Innovative use of quantitative and qualitative data
and
broadens
debate
Countries will boost HD by addressing gender inequalities on all frontsSlide13
Thank you!
http://hdr.undp.org/en