The Paths to Equal: Twin Indices on Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality

This report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) analyzes data from 114 countries to introduce two new indices: the Women's Empowerment Index (WEI), which measures women’s power and freedoms, and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI), which measures progress in achieving gender parity between women and men. The twin indices provide a complementary view to measure and compare global progress for women’s issues.

The WEI calculates an index score which measures empowerment and achievement for women and girls using 10 indicators across five dimensions: life and good health, education, skill-building and knowledge, labour and financial inclusion, participation in decision-making, and freedom from violence. The GGPI calculates an index score which measures gender parity between men and women using eight indicators across four dimensions: life and good health, education, skill-building and knowledge, labour and financial inclusion, and participation in decision-making.

The report finds that none of the 114 countries have achieved full women’s empowerment and gender parity. The vast majority of countries have low or middle women’s empowerment and low or middle gender parity, accounting for over 90 percent of women and girls in the countries analyzed. Only 6 countries have achieved high women’s empowerment and high gender parity, representing less than 1 percent of the world’s women’s and girls. The report also highlights how high human development alone is not enough to achieve women’s empowerment and gender equality and that targeted action is needed to accelerate progress. The report is accompanied by downloadable datasets, an infographic, and an interactive data visualization.