Global Gender Gap Report 2021: Hegemony, Level-Blind ...

The Global Gender Gap Report 2021 admittedly focuses on the gaps and not the levels, meaning the numeric gaps between males and females are ... Searchfor: UdayaShankarMishra&WilliamJoe August2nd,2021 GlobalGenderGapReport2021:Hegemony,Level-BlindAssessmentsandPoorRankingsoftheGlobalSouth 0comments |6shares Estimatedreadingtime:10minutes UdayaShankarMishra&WilliamJoe August2nd,2021 GlobalGenderGapReport2021:Hegemony,Level-BlindAssessmentsandPoorRankingsoftheGlobalSouth 0comments |6shares Estimatedreadingtime:10minutes 6 Shares ThispostanalysessomebasicprinciplesofrankingofcountriesintheGlobalGenderGapIndex2021,andexaminesthepresumptionsthatdeterminetheoutcomes.UdayaShankarMishraandWilliamJoehighlightthefaultlinesinthesepresumptions,andarguethatgiventheimportanceoftheserankingswhichinvariablycomplicatesthehard-earneddevelopmentsofdevelopingcountries,developmentalorganisationsandthinktanksfromtheglobalSouth(suchasBRICS)shouldbroadentheirrolesandscopeofengagementonglobalrankingsandprinciples.       GlobalRankingsandIndia Globalrankingsreceivewideattentiontowardvariousdevelopmentalconcerns.Betterrankingischerishedasamarkerofgovernancestandardsandcapabilities.Mostoftheseglobalrankingsplacedevelopedcountriesmuchaheadofdevelopingcountries,anditisseldomcontestedbytheglobalSouth.ThemostrecentGlobalGenderGapReport2021rankingsbytheWorldEconomicForumisacaseinpointthatwarrantsgreaterattention.   Indiaranks140outof156countriesintheGlobalGenderGapIndex(GGI)2021;itwasranked98thinGGI2006.Despiterapideconomicgrowthinthelasttwodecades,IndiacontinuestofaremiserablyinGGIrankings,marredwithrankinginconsistenciesacrosstheindexsub-componentsviz.economicparticipationandopportunity,educationalattainment,healthandsurvival,andpoliticalempowerment.Forinstance,ontheonehandIndiaranks155outof156countriesinthedomainofHealthandSurvival;ontheother,itranks51stinPoliticalEmpowerment.CanacountryfaringbetterinPoliticalEmpowermentbelastbutworstinHealthandSurvivalamongwomen?   Infact,itisstartlingtonotethattheworstperformer(rank156)in‘HandandSurvival’isChina.CantwolargeeconomieswiththehighesteconomicgrowthregistersuchpoorperformanceonHealthandSurvival?Ofcourse,itisplausibleandonecanarguethatbetterlevelsofdevelopmentmaynotnecessarilyreflectgendergaps.TheGGImethodologyspecificallyclaimsthattherankingsfocusongendergapsirrespectiveoftheattainmentlevels.Iflevelsareirrelevantthenassessmentsshouldbebasedongapbut—asweelaboratebelow—GGIendsupcapturinglevelsinitsrankings.   Rankinginconsistencies Twospecificexamplestohighlightrankinginconsistenciesthatariseonaccountoflevels,andnotgaps,areasfollows.First,inAfghanistan,theliteracyrateofmalesandfemalesis55.5%and29.8%respectively,whereasinChaditis14.0%and31.3%respectively.ThegendergapinAfghanistanis25.7%and17.3%inChad.IftheGGIvaluedonlygapsthenAfghanistanshouldhaveapoorerrankingthanChad;however,theGGIranksAfghanistan(151st)aheadofChad(154th).   Second,theestimatedearnedincome(inInternationalDollars)ofmenandwomeninBangladeshis$6,200and$2,500,inChina$12,100and$19,800,andinFrance$38,700and$54,500respectively.Thegendergapis$3,700,$7,700and$15,800respectively.Iflevelsareirrelevant,countrieswithlowgendergapshouldhavebetterrank.However,theGlobalGenderGapreportranksFrance(39th)muchaheadofChina(76th)andBangladesh(131st).Clearly,therankingsareinfluencedbylevels,andthereforemakestheGGI’sclaimoflevel-freeassessmentquestionable.   AssessingGenderGap Closingthegendergapisoneoftheidealstobeemphasisedinthedevelopmentalprocess,andhasitsownimplicationsintermsofhumanrightsandwelfare.TheGlobalGenderGapReport2021admittedlyfocusesonthegapsandnotthelevels,meaningthenumericgapsbetweenmalesandfemalesareindependentofthelevelsachieved.TheGGIgoesfurthertosaythatitdisassociatesthegendergapfromthelevelofdevelopmenttorewardcountrieswithsmallergendergapsirrespectiveoftheirlevelsofdevelopment.Suchanadmissionraisestwoconcerns—first,thatthegendergappresumablyisnotresponsivetothechanginglevelsofthephenomenon;andsecond,thevaluationofsimilargendergapisnottobedifferentiatedacrossthelevelsofthephenomenon.Theformerconcernsuggeststhatgendergapislevel-blindandthelatterindicatesthatgendergapistransitionneutral.Contestingsuchlevel-blindassessmentsshouldbeapriorityoftheglobalSouth.   Whylevelsmatter? TheGGIemphasisesthatifgendergapsaresmallerdespitelimitationinresourcesandopportunities,thisgapisnodifferentfromtheonewheresimilargendergappersistswithbetterresourcesandopportunities.Typically,countrieswithbetterlevelsofdevelopmentaremoreresourcefulthanthoseatlowerlevels.Suchresourcefulcountriesshouldleadtheglobaleffortsbydemonstratingrapidreductionsingendergaps.Butifsuchcountriesprogresswithoutbridgingabsolutegaps,thentheyarecontributinglittleornothingtowardthecauseofgenderequityinrelationtothoseshowingequitableprogress.   Therankingsthatareinsensitivetoabsolutegapareindirectlyrewardingthecountriesfortheirresources,andnotnecessarilyvaluingtheeffortstowardequitableprogress.Theabove-mentionedcomparisonofBangladesh,ChinaandFrancemakesitobvious:clearly,aprogressinlevelshouldberewardedifitisaccompaniedwitheffortstobridgethegendergap;ontheotherhand,anysuchprogressthatwidensthegendergapshouldbepenalisedinrankings.   Principlesforranking Gapscanbeoftwotypes—absoluteorrelative,andachoicehastobemadebetweenthetwo.Thequestionispertinentastheentirerankingstructureisshapedbythischoice.Forexample,inBangladesh,menearn2.5timeshigherincomethanwomenbuttheabsolutegendergapis$3,700,whereasinFrance,theincomeofmenis1.4timesthatofwomenbuttheabsolutegapis$15,800.Boththetypesofgapsareimportantand,therefore,thequestionis,whoshouldberankedhigherthantheother?Suchintricaciescallforlevel-sensitiverankingsthatcanovercomeconcernsassociatedwithbothabsoluteandrelativegendergaps.   Toelaborate,iftwocountrieswithvaryinglevelsofachievementhavesameabsolutegendergapthenacountrywithalowerlevelshouldberankedaheadofthecountrywithahigherlevel.Atthesametime,iftwocountrieshavesamerelativegendergap,thenagainacountrywithlowerlevelsshouldberankedaheadofthecountrywithahigherlevel.Thesearewell-definedaxiomaticprinciplesknownas‘difference-basedlevel-sensitivity’and‘ratio-basedlevel-sensitivity’respectively.Anyrankingprocedureorglobaldevelopmentalindicesshouldsatisfytheseaxioms.Therearesomereasonableleadsonthismatterthatdeservesconsiderationfordevelopmentofsuchindices.   Knowledgehegemony DevelopmentalnormshavebeeninvariablyshapedbyWesternsocieties,anditispresumedthattheglobalSouthreadilysubscribestothesenorms.Butthesenormsarealsoinextricablylinkedtothesocialfabricaswellasresourceconstraintsthatcannotbetransformedovernight.Gendergapassessmentsshouldvalueprogressthatisnotonlysensitivetothehiatusbetweengendersbutalsotothelevelsofthephenomenon.   Ignoringlevelsdefeatsthepurposeofvaluinggendergapsandtheidealofhavinggenderequity.Forexample,anintersectionalperspectivehighlightshowablackwoman(orman)ismuchlikelytobeworseplacedthanwhitewoman.Similarly,women(ormen)belongingtoScheduledCastesorTribesareatgreaterdisadvantagethanthosefromuppercastesinIndia.Thegendergaprankingsshouldconsidercharacteristicheterogeneitiesfromvariousperspectivesthatareimportantbutarecurrentlyneglected.Moreimportantly,itishightimethattheglobalSouthengagesasaknowledgepartnerandmakesitspresencefelt.DevelopmentalorganisationsandthinktanksfromtheglobalSouth(suchasBRICS)shouldbroadentheirrolesandscopeofengagementonglobalrankingsandprinciples.   Bannerimage:©‘Unicornmoneyboxandcoinsstacked’byAnnieSpratt,Unsplash.    Theviewsexpressedherearethoseoftheauthorsandnotofthe‘SouthAsia@LSE’blog,theLSESouthAsiaCentreortheLondonSchoolofEconomics&PoliticalScience.  Share:Clicktoemailthistoafriend(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonTwitter(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonFacebook(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonLinkedIn(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonWhatsApp(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonPocket(Opensinnewwindow)Clicktoprint(Opensinnewwindow) Abouttheauthor UdayaShankarMishra&WilliamJoe UdayaShankarMishraisProfessoratthe CentreforDevelopmentStudies,PrasanthanagarRoad,Thiruvananthapuram(Kerala)India;WilliamJoeisAssistantProfessor,PopulationResearchCentre,InstituteofEconomicGrowth,Delhi. PostedIn: India RelatedPosts India ThePublicUtilityContractExceptioninIndianLaw:AwardingDamageswithoutProofofActualLoss August23rd,2021 Featured JLF2019Interview:SvenBeckert‘EmpireofCotton’ October18th,2019 Featured LongRead:RedressingtheneglectinIndia-BruneiRelations January15th,2020 Featured LongRead:‘Collectivepunishmentandimprisonment’:WhatislifereallylikeinsidetheKashmirstatelockdown? September2nd,2019 4 CONTRIBUTE SouthAsia@LSEwelcomescontributionsfromLSEfaculty,fellows,students,alumniandvisitorstotheschool.Pleasewritetosouthasia@lse.ac.ukwithideasforpostsonsouthAsia-relatedtopics. × BadBehaviorhasblocked551accessattemptsinthelast7days. SendtoEmailAddress YourName YourEmailAddress Cancel Postwasnotsent-checkyouremailaddresses! Emailcheckfailed,pleasetryagain Sorry,yourblogcannotsharepostsbyemail. Weusecookiesonthissitetounderstandhowyouuseourcontent,andtogiveyouthebestbrowsingexperience.Toacceptcookies,clickcontinue.Tofindoutmoreaboutcookiesandchangeyourpreferences,visitourCookiePolicy.Continue