Gender Empowerment & Employment

The GII combines three sets of measures to come up with a composite score for gender inequality. This page looks at empowerment and employment. The next page looks at the third measure, reproductive health.

Empowerment: National Legislature

In the context of gender inequality, empowerment refers to the ability of women to achieve improvements in their own status–that is, to achieve economic and political power. The empowerment dimension of GII is measured by two indicators: The percentage of seats held by women in the national legislature and the percentage of women who have completed some secondary school (high school).

No particular gender-specific skills are required to be elected as a representative and to serve effectively. But in every country of the world, both developed and developing, fewer women than men hold positions of political power.

Women in Government, Rwanda

A government official discusses policies affecting youth at Rwanda’s National Dialogue Council.

Although more women than men vote in most places, only three countries (Bolivia, Cuba, and Rwanda) have a national parliament or congress with a majority of women. With a few exceptions, the highest percentages are in Europe, where women comprise approximately one-fourth of the members of national parliaments. The lowest rates are in Southwest Asia & North Africa.

In the United States, 24 percent of the House of Representatives (103 of 435 members) were women in 2019. The percentage was only 19 percent prior to the 2018 election. In 2018 Canada’s House of Commons included 26 percent women, and the United Kingdom’s House of Commons included 32 percent women.

Women in the National Legislature

The highest percentages are in Europe, and the lowest are in Southwest Asia & North Africa.

Employment

The female labor force participation rate is the percentage of women holding full-time jobs outside the home. Worldwide, 49 percent of women work outside the home, compared to 75 percent of men. In general, women in developed countries are more likely than women in developing countries to hold full-time jobs outside the home.

Figures vary widely among developing regions. South Asia and Southwest Asia & North Africa have substantial gaps between male and female labor participation, whereas East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have smaller gaps. Women hold jobs in agriculture or services in sub-Saharan Africa, even while they have the world’s highest fertility rates.

Labor Force Participation

A lower number means that relatively few women participate in the labor force compared with men.

Empowerment: Secondary School

Worldwide, 62 percent of women have completed some secondary (high) school, compared to 71 percent of men. In North America, girls are more likely than boys to complete some high school, and boys are slightly ahead in Europe. In developing countries, boys are much more likely than girls to be high school graduates. For every ten boys who attend high school in developing countries, only six girls attend. The gap in education between girls and boys is especially high in South Asia.

Gender Differences in Secondary School

Pause & Reflect 10.2.4

Does the lower than expected percent of women in the legislature of the United States corellate with gender differences in schooling or labor force participation? If not, what do you think explains this particular example of gender inequality?