EARTHTRENDS DATA TABLES
TECHNICAL NOTES: Gender and Development 2005
For more information, please consult http://earthtrends.wri.org

DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY

Gender Empowerment Measure is a composite index that quantifies women's opportunities. The measure is calculated from three components. Political participation and decision-making power is measured by the proportional share, by gender, of parliamentary seats.   Economic participation and decision-making power is measured by (a) the proportional share, by gender, of positions as legislators, senior officials, and managers; and (b) the proportional share, by gender, of professional and technical positions.  Power over economic resources is measured by the estimated earned income for women and men, in US dollars adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).  Variables in these three areas are weighted equally and indexed by their relationship to the ideal scenario (i.e., 50-50 distribution between genders is considered the ideal for representation in parliaments).  The gender empowerment measure for a particular country is presented on a scale of 0-1, with higher numbers representing greater levels of equality.

Woman-Headed Households is the percent of occupied housing units whose members acknowledge a woman as the head of the household.  In many countries, female-headed households suffer from a lower and more precarious tenure status than male-headed households, which leads to greater insecurity for themselves and their dependents.  Data were collected primarily through census data and household surveys. In other cases, data may come from specific housing studies carried out by different UN groups. Public housing boards, housing financial institutions, real-estate agencies, and nongovernmental organizations have also supplied data when census or household data were unavailable.

Contraceptive Prevalence Rate is the percentage of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in a marital or consensual union who are currently using contraception.  

Women with Unmet Family Planning Needs is the percentage of fertile women who are not using contraception and report that they do not want children or want their next child with a delay of two years or more. Contraception includes both modern (sterilization, the pill, condoms, vaginal barrier methods, etc.) and traditional (periodic or prolonged abstinence, withdrawal, etc.) methods.  Data were compiled primarily from surveys based on nationally representative samples of women aged 15-49. The surveys used for data compilation include Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), and Family Health Surveys (FHS).

Maternal Mortality Ratio is the annual number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes, either when pregnant or within 42 days of birth or termination of pregnancy. Measured per 100,000 live births, it quantifies the risk of death once a woman has become pregnant.  Women in countries with both high fertility and high maternal mortality run the highest lifetime risks of death as a result of childbearing.  (Reduction of maternal mortality is one the United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals.) Estimates of maternal mortality were obtained by UNICEF from a variety of sources, including government reporting, household surveys, and DHS. 

Skilled Attendants At Delivery is the percentage of births attended by physicians, nurses, midwives, or primary health care workers trained in midwifery skills. Women are most in need of skilled care during delivery and the immediate postpartum period, when roughly three-quarters of all maternal deaths occur.  Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), developed by UNICEF with partners in 1997, were used by governments in 66 countries to collect the data presented here. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) provided relevant data to UNICEF for more than 35 additional countries. For the majority of remaining countries, national governments provided non-MICS data. Where no reliable official figures exist, estimates have been made by UNICEF. Where possible, only comprehensive or representative national data have been used.

Ratio of Women to Men Enrolled in Secondary Education represents the ratio of female to male gross enrollment in secondary schooling. A ratio of 100 indicates equality in representation. Lower numbers represent a higher percentage of male than female enrollment. The data are for the 2001-2002 school year.  The ratio is calculated by WRI by dividing the gross enrollment of males by that of females for secondary education. The result is multiplied by 100 to produce the final ratio.  UNICEF calculates gross enrollment data by dividing the number of pupils enrolled in a given level of education, regardless of age, by population in the relevant official age group, and then multiplying by 100 to produce a ratio.  

Literacy Rate, shown here for both men and women, is generally defined as the percentage of the population aged 15 years and over who can both read and write, with understanding, a short, simple statement on their everyday life. This indicator can be used to measure the achievement of literacy programs and the effectiveness of primary education. According to UNESCO, "literacy represents a potential for further intellectual growth and contribution to economic-socio-cultural development of society." Adult literacy correlates with GNP per capita, life expectancy, fertility rates, infant mortality, and urbanization.  Most literacy data are collected during national population censuses. Typically, censuses are held only once in a decade, so UNESCO supplements these data with household surveys, labor force surveys, employment surveys, industry surveys, and agricultural surveys when they are available.  

Annual Earned Income, shown here for both men and women, is an estimate of the annual earning power available to workers in the nonagricultural sector.  Data are reported in 2002 international dollars adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).  Direct measures of income disaggregated by gender are unavailable for most countries. In order to calculate this indicator, UNDP uses a ratio of female nonagricultural wage to the male non-agricultural wage, male and female shares of the economically active population, total male and female population, and GDP per capita (PPP). These data are obtained from the World Bank's World Development Indicators and the United Nations Population Division.

Female Professional and Technical Workers is women’s share of total positions defined according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88) Major Group 2. This classification includes physical, mathematical and engineering science professionals, life science and health professionals, teaching professionals and other (business, social science, legal, religious) professionals.  Values were calculated by UNDP on the basis of occupational data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) LABORSTA database.  The ILO receives these data from country labor surveys.

Parliamentary Seats Held by Women is calculated based on the total number of seats in
parliament and the number of seats occupied by women. When there is both an upper house and a lower house of parliament, the total number of women in both houses is divided by the total number of seats in both houses. Data are current as of April 1, 2004. The Inter-Parliamentary Union compiles these data based on information provided by national parliaments.


FREQUENCY OF UPDATE BY DATA PROVIDERS

The Gender Empowerment Index and labor data are published annually by UNDP in the Human Development Report.  Literacy and education data are compiled annually by UNESCO.  UNICEF publishes maternal health indicators in its annual State of the World’s Children.    Household data are released by UN-Habitat in its Human Settlement Statistics database approximately every five years.  Data on world contraceptive use is updated every two years.  The Inter-Parliamentary Union updates its Women in Parliament data set monthly to reflect elections.
  
DATA RELIABILITY AND CAUTIONARY NOTES

Gender Empowerment Measure:  This index is calculated for the purposes of comparing across countries, so data must be obtained from international datasets, limiting the variables that can be used for the calculation.  Without these constraints, other variables that are more detailed could have been used to measure more accurately the political, professional, and economic empowerment of women. 

Women-Headed Households: Data reliability varies on a country-by-country basis. Data for women-headed households are limited and were collected over a 15-year period. The reader should use caution when comparing across countries.

Contraceptive Prevalence Rate and Women with Unmet Family Planning Needs: The data refer only to women ages15-49 who are married or in a consensual union. Information on single men or women is not as widely available, although it constitutes a significant proportion of contraceptive use (or lack thereof).

Maternal Mortality Ratio:  The purpose of these estimates is to draw attention to the existence and likely dimensions of the problem of maternal mortality. The data are not intended to serve as precise estimates. The margins of uncertainty associated with these values are large and the estimates cannot be used to monitor trends.  

Skilled Attendants at Delivery: The data included for this variable cover a wide range of years and sources. Some data refer to periods other than 1995-2002.  Comparisons between countries should be made with caution due to the resulting potential for variability in data quality and timing for individual countries.

Ratio of Women to Men Enrolled in Secondary Education:  While UNESCO keeps the most complete global data set on enrollment levels, problems do remain. The availability and quality of national school-enrollment statistics vary widely, particularly for developing countries. Even though UNESCO has applied the same methodology to analyze all of the country data, definitions of "schooling" and "enrollment" are not strictly comparable among countries.

Literacy Rate: The availability and quality of national statistics on literacy varies widely, particularly for developing countries. When census and survey data are not available for a particular country, estimates need to be made based on neighboring countries. Even when census and survey data are available, they are typically collected only once every decade. In addition, many industrialized countries have stopped collecting literacy data in recent years, based on the assumption, sometimes incorrect, that universal primary education means universal literacy.  Even though UNESCO has applied the same methodology to analyze all of the country data, actual definitions of adult literacy are not strictly comparable among countries. Some countries assume that persons with no schooling are illiterate, or change definitions between censuses. In addition, UNESCO's definition of literacy does not include people who, though familiar with the basics of reading and writing, do not have the skills to function at a reasonable level in their own society. Practices for identifying literates and illiterates during actual census enumeration may also vary, and errors in literacy self-declaration can affect data reliability. Therefore, users should exercise caution when making cross-country comparisons.

Annual Earned Income: Since direct measures of income disaggregated by gender are unavailable for most countries, this indicator is calculated by UNDP from wage figures including both men and women, estimates of the size of the labor force by gender, and ratios of male-to- female income. 

Female Professional and Technical Workers: The collection and reporting of labor statistics is governed by a well-defined set of standards developed through a number of international agreements. The ILO applies rigorous quality standards to the data it receives. However, as is the case with all large datasets that rely on government reporting, there are likely to be some irregularities. 

SOURCES

Gender Empowerment Measure, Annual Earned Income, and Female Professional and Technical Workers: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2004. Human Development Report, Tables 24 and 25. New York:UNDP. Available in print and online at http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2004/. 

Woman-Headed Households: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). 2001. Global Report on Human Settlements: Statistical Annexes. Table A-4.  Nairobi: UN-HABITAT. Online at http://www.unchs.org/habrdd/statprog.htm. 

Contraceptive Prevalence Rate and Women With Unmet Family Planning Needs: United Nations Population Division. 2004. World Contraceptive Use. New York: UN. Online at http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/contraceptive2003/WallChart_CP2003.pdf. 

Skilled Attendants At Delivery, Maternal Mortality Ratio: United Nations Children's Fund. 2004. State of the World's Children: Girls, Education, and Development, Table 8.  New York: UNICEF. Available in print and online at http://www.unicef.org/sowc04/. 

Ratio of Women to Men Enrolled in All Levels of Education, Literacy Rates: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics. 2004. World Statistical Tables. Paris: UNESCO. Online at http://www.uis.unesco.org/. 

Parliamentary Seats Held by Women: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). 2004. Women in National Parliaments. Geneva: IPU. Online at http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm