The protection of the rights of women and girls and the increasement of opportunities to women across the globe is often overlooked or undervalued, however they are vital to are vital to the overall economic development and prosperity from the individual family unit, communities, countries, and our global comunity.
Last week, the Economist Intelligence Unit launched the Women’s Economic Opportunity report, an innovative study of the global economic landscape facing women. This pilot effort analyzes the laws, practices and attitudes that affect women workers and entrepreneurs, and points to key steps to improve opportunities and economic performance worldwide. The 142 page reoprt lists an overall ranking of countries based on their economic opportunites for women and then looks indepth at the potential drivers of womens economic opportunity.
The Women’s Economic Opportunity Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative scoring model,
constructed from 26 indicators, that measures specifi c attributes of the environment for women
employees and entrepreneurs in 113 economies. Five category scores are calculated from the unweighted mean of underlying indicators and scaled from 0-100, where 100=most favourable. These categories are: Labour policy and practice (which comprises two sub-categories: Labour policy and Labour practice); Access to fi nance; Education and training; Women’s legal and social status; and the General business environment. Each category or sub-category features either four or fi ve underlying indicators. The overall score (from 0-100) is calculated from a simple average of the unweighted category and indicator scores. That is, every indicator contributes equally to their parent category and every category contributes equally to the overall score. This is the baseline overall score for the Women’s Economic Opportunity Index.
While progress in gender equality and opportunities for women have greatly increased in the last century the overall economic opportunities for women and girls continue to fall greatly behind those of men and boys. ‘Women, on average, earn 75% of their male co-workers’ wages, and the difference cannot be explained solely by schooling or experience. In many countries, women have fewer educational and employment opportunities than men, are more often denied credit, and endure social restrictions that limit their chances for advancement.’ Much of this is due to the fact that in many developing countries women still cannot vote, own property or in some cases even go outside their family home without the occompanament of a male family member.
This report is a great tool that highlights the value of women’s participation in our economy and can serve as a valuble tool to organizations across the globe. Working to ensure as a global comunity we help women to make the most of their economic potential is a vital component in tackling inequality and global poverty.
