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SIGI 2012 at a glance: The map shows each country's ranking in the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). Click on a country to read about gender equality and social institutions.
Information about variables and data sources for the 2012 SIGI
The following table sets out the variables and data sources for 2012 SIGI. More information about the criteria for selecting variables and the scoring framework can be found here. The most recently available data (up to November 2011) is used for each variable.
| DISCRIMINATORY FAMILY CODE | ||
| Variable and what it measures | How the variable is coded | Data sources |
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Legal Age of Marriage Measures whether women have the same rights with respect to the legal minimum age of marriage |
Assigned a score based on one component: minimum legal age of marriage. 0: The law on the minimum age of marriage does not discriminate against women 0.5: The law on the minimum age of marriage discriminates against some women, for example through customary, traditional and religious law 1: The law on the minimum age of marriage discriminates against all women or there is no law on the minimum age of marriage |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles.
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Early Marriage Measures the prevalence of early and forced marriage |
Percentage of women married between 15-19 years of age. |
Data from UN World Marriage data (2008) and other sources including Demographic Health Survey data and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey data. Download information about data sources. |
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Parental Authority Measures whether women have the same right to be a legal guardian of a child during marriage, and whether women have custody rights over a child after divorce |
Score based on an average of two components: legal guardianship of a child during marriage and custody rights over a child after divorce. 0: Equal rights for women and men 0.5: (Some) women have (some) rights, but less than men 1: Women and men have unequal rights |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles.
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Inheritance Measures whether widows and daughters have equal rights to their male counterparts as heirs. |
Score based on an average of two components: inheritance rights of spouses and inheritance rights of daughters. 0: Women and men have equal rights of inheritance 0.5: (some) women have (some) rights, but less than men 1: Women and men have unequal rights of inheritance |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles. |
| RESTRICTED PHYSICAL INTEGRITY | ||
| Variable and what it measures | How the variable is coded | Data sources |
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Violence against Women Measures the existence of women's legal protection from rape, assault and sexual harassment, the prevalence of domestic violence and attitudes towards domestic violence |
The Violence Against Women variable is based on the average of three components: a) Laws b) Attitudes towards domestic violence c) Lifetime prevalence of domestic violence a) Laws Score based on an equally-weighted average of three components: existence of laws against sexual assault or rape; existence of laws against domestic violence; and existence of laws against sexual harassment. Value based on following scale: 0: There is specific legislation in place 0.25: There is specific legislation in place, but there are widespread reported problems with implementation 0.5: There is general legislation in place, or specific legislation is inadequate (e.g. rape laws do not criminalise marital rape) 0.75: Legislation is being planned, drafted or reviewed or existing legislation is highly inadequate 1: No legislation b) Attitudes towards domestic violence Percentage of women who agree that a husband/partner is justified in beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances. c) Life time prevalence of domestic violence Percentage of women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some time in their life. |
Legal data from country specific sources in country profiles.
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Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Measures the prevalence of female genital mutilation |
Percentage of women aged 15-49 who have undergone female genital mutilation, as defined by the World Health Organization |
Data from World Health Organization, Population Reference Bureau, Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys, Demographic Health Surveys. Download information about data sources. |
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Reproductive Integrity Measures the extent to which women can exercise reproductive autonomy |
Percentage of married women aged 15-49 with unmet need for family planning. Defined by the Demographic Health Surveys and World Health Organization as married women who do not want any more children for the next two years and not using contraception. |
Data from Demographic Health Survey data, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, World Health Organization data and other reproductive health surveys. Download information about data sources. |
| SON BIAS | ||
| Variable and what it measures | How the variable is coded | Data sources |
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Missing Women Measures gender bias in mortality due to sex selective abortions, female infanticide or insufficient care given to baby girls |
Score calculated by Professor Stephan Klasen, based on analysis of sex ratio data for ages 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-64, 65+. The analysis is based on considering expected age-specific sex ratios and comparing them to actual ones and is based on methods discussed in Klasen and Wink (2002, 2003).[1] The variable assigns a value of either 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 or 1, based on a scale where 0 indicates that missing women are not a problem, and 1 indicates a severe incidence of missing women. The score is particularly influenced by sex ratios in young age, although adult sex ratios are also considered as secondary information. |
Sex ratio data from UN Population Division and Central Intelligence Authority (2011). |
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Fertility Preferences Measures gender bias in fertility preferences using the share of males as the last child |
Continuous variable, percentage share of males as the last child in the household, calculated from household surveys. |
Data from Demographic Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and selected household surveys. Download information about data sources. |
| RESTRICTED RESOURCES AND ENTITLEMENTS | ||
| Variable and what it measures | How the variable is coded | Data sources |
|
Access to Land Measures women's access to agricultural land |
Score based on women’s legal rights and defacto rights to own and/or access agricultural land. Value based on the following scale: 0: Women have the same legal rights as men to own and access land 0.5: Women have equal legal rights with men to own and access land, but discriminatory practices restrict women’s access to and ownership of land in practice 1: Women have no/few legal rights to access or own land or access is severely restricted by discriminatory practices |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles. |
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Access to Credit Measures women's access to bank loans and other forms of credit |
Score based on women’s legal and defacto access to credit. Value based on the following scale: 0: Women have the same rights to access credit and bank loans as men 0.5: Women only have the right to access some kinds of credit (for example only through microcredit), or they have rights but in practice they face discrimination in accessing credit 1: Women have no/few rights to access credit or access is severely restricted by discriminatory practices |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles. |
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Access to Property other than Land Measures women's access to other types of property, especially immovable property |
Score based on women’s legal and defacto access to property other than land. Value based on the following scale: 0: Women have equal legal rights to own and administer property other than land as men 0.5: Women only have rights to own and administer some kinds of property (i.e. goods they received from their parents such as inheritance or dowry) or they have equal legal rights but in practice they face socio-cultural discrimination to owning and administering property 1: Women have no/few/unequal legal rights to own or administer property other than land or their access is severely restricted by discriminatory practices |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles. |
| RESTRICTED CIVIL LIBERTIES | ||
| Variable and what it measures | How the variable is coded | Data sources |
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Access to Public Space Measures the restrictions limiting women’ freedom of movement and access to public space |
Score based on legal restrictions or discriminatory practices affecting women’s access to public space, for example the restrictions on women’s choice of domicile, restricted ability to visit family and friends, requirements for husband’s approval apply for a passport or widespread threats of political violence Value based on the following scale: 0 : No legal restrictions and no discriminatory practice is reported 0.5: No legal restrictions, but discriminatory practices widely reported 1: There are legal restrictions or discriminatory practices are widespread |
Data from country specific sources in country profiles. |
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Political Voice measures the level of discrimination against women with respect to political participation |
Variable based on average of two components: a) Political participation b) Quotas a) Political participation Percentage of women in national parliament (inversed to fit 0-1 scale where 0 represents equality) b) Quotas Score assigned based on the existence of legal quotas to promote women’s political participation at national and/or sub-national levels. 0: There are legal quotas to promote women’s political participation at national and sub-national levels 0.5: There are legal quotas to promote women’s political participation at national or sub-national levels 1: There are no legal quotas to promote women’s political participation |
Data on political participation from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (February 2012) Data on quotas from The Quota Project (International IDEA and Stockholm University) or UN Women Progress of the World’s Women 2011 Statistical Annex. Download information about data sources. |
[1] Klasen, S. and C. Wink (2002) A Turning Point in Gender Bias in Mortality? An Update on the Number of Missing Women. Population and Development Review 28; Klasen, S. and C. Wink (2003) Missing Women: Revisiting the Debate. Feminist Economics 9, 263-299.
