Gender inequality The unequal treatment of individuals based on their gender where by men or usually women are denied the same rights and opportunities across sectors of society. This inequality can be measured by the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) devised by the World Economic Forum. This index focuses on gaps between men and women across four key areas: Health, education, economy and politics.

http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/ Iceland (1) top spot for the eighth consecutive year, closing more than 87% of its overall gender gap. It remains the top performer on Political Empowerment and in the top ten on Economic Participation and Opportunity. However, this year’s update of income scales on the estimate earned income indicator reveals that there remains an overall income gender gap to close. Iceland has closed approximately 12% of its total gender gap, making it one of the fastest-improving countries in the world. Finland (2) overtakes Norway and regains its second place in the world, closing nearly 85% of its overall gender gap. It has fully closed its gender gap on Educational Attainment and Health and Survival and remains the runner-up on Political Empowerment, reaching parity in the number of women in ministerial positions. The Index’s updated estimated earned income scale reveals that Finland, too, has some work left to do to fully close its overall income gender gap. Norway (3) Sweden (4) Rwanda (5) crosses the threshold of closing 80% of its gender gap and overtakes Ireland to break into the top five for the first time since entering the Index. This is mostly due to improvements on its Economic Participation and Opportunity and it remains the country with the highest share of female parliamentarians in the world, 64%. Its Educational Attainment gender gap remains open and ranks 112th despite enrolment in tertiary education improvements. Its Health and Survival gender gap also remains open, placing it 94th in the world.

Why is there gender inequality? Forced Marriage Poor access to health care Lack of political participation Why is there gender inequality? Forced Labour Violence against women Sex Trafficking Wage inequality Lack of educational opportunities Poor access to reproductive health services

Method Always formulate the ‘null hypothesis’ (Hᴏ) which must state the absence of a relationship between the 2 variables that you are investigating. Then formulate the ‘alternative hypothesis’ which states the presence of a relationship. **Hopefully you will be able to reject the null and accept the alternative **

Method 3. Rank the data. – if shared values exist, calculate the average rank. 4. Calculate ‘d’ which is the difference between the 2 ranks for each pair of data. 5. Calculate d² and then the sum of d². 6. Then use the formula to calculate spearman’s rank coefficient. The coefficient will always within a range that extends from +1 (perfect positive) to -1 (perfect negative). The greater the value of rs, the stronger the relationship between the 2 variables e.g. +/- 0.750 represents a stronger correlation than say +/- 0.532. 7. There is always a possibility that a result is due to chance and in statistical terms, a result is only truly significant when it can be demonstrated that it could not occur by chance. Results must always be tested for significance i.e. the probability of chance having influenced the result. 8. Calculate your degrees of freedom and set your critical value to see if your values is significant.

Country GGGI Rank HDI d d² Iceland 0.859   0.895 Finland 0.845 0.879 Norway 0.837 0.944 Sweden 0.816 0.898 Denmark 0.802 0.900 Nicaragua 0.789 0.614 Rwanda 0.785 0.506 Ireland 0.899 Philippines 0.781 0.660 Belgium 0.780 0.881 Switzerland 0.779 0.917 Germany 0.778 0.911 UK 0.738 0.892 Chile 0.697 0.622 Bangladesh 0.558 Italy 0.872 Brazil 0.694 0.744 Romania 0.693 Honduras 0.617 Montenegro Russia 0.692 Vietnam 0.691 0.683 Senegal 0.485 China 0.719 India 0.645 0.586 Guinea 0.600 0.392 Morocco 0.598 Jordan 0.596 0.745 Lebanon 0.592 0.765 Ivory Coast 0.587 0.452 Iran 0.581 0.749 Mali 0.577 0.407 Syria 0.658 Chad 0.576 0.372 Pakistan 0.552 0.537 Yemen 0.514 0.500

Page 248 Critically evaluate the criteria used. Give your verdict on the usefulness of the data used. Consider how valid/reliable the data is. What are its strengths and weaknesses? What alternatives are available? Are there any gaps in the data used?

Strengths Weaknesses Economic participation and opportunity Good discriminator for ACs. Highlights effectiveness of opportunities to education and rights. Female desire for job preference not accounted for. Wage difference effected by job/career choice. Education and attainment Highlights gender differences in opportunities. Useful to compare stats between ages. Literacy the most useful. Education is first step but of little use if opportunities stop. Enrolment doesn’t equal attendance. Health and survival Crucial element to equality. Highlights gender preferences. Doesn’t cover aspects of actions like FGM or access to family planning. Political empowerment Useful as empowerment of women ensures women are considered in decision making. Years in power distorted by long term holding of Head of State.

Strengths Weaknesses Economic participation and opportunity Education and attainment Health and survival Political empowerment

Homework: Investigate the strategies used in the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the work of the ICRW to promote and protect women’s rights. What are the obstacles to successful implementation of their strategies? http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/gender-equality/successstories.html