Geography of Gender

Data Analysis

Valerie OblinskyVirginia

GeographicAlliance

Pictures by Tom Landon And

Dr. Robert Slaughter

Development by gender: How is it measured?

1. Gender-Related Development Index

2. Gender Empowerment Measure

Who creates these indexes?

UNHD

Gender-Related Development Index

4 factors similar to the HDI

1. Economic: average income

2. Social Indicators:-literacy levels

-education (school attendance)

3. Demographic:Life expectancy

Gender-Related Development Index

• -The rank of the Netherlands remained the same. (0)

• -The rank of Belgium is #7 but the HDI rank is #6. (-1)• -The rank of Iceland is #6 but the HDI rank is #7. (1)• -The rank of Japan is #12 but the HDI rank is 9. (-3)• Why would a country drop in rank from the HDI?

Nepal: GDI

140 59.4 59.9 26.4 61.6 55 67 891 1,776 -4What do can you tell about Women in Nepal?

-Women and men have the same life expectancy. Why?-Only a small % of women canread compared to their enrollment in school. Why?-Women make less moneythan men. Why?-What does the last figure mean?

China: GDI

94 73.2 68.8 86.5 95.1 64 69 3,571 5,435 5What can you tell aboutthe women in China?

-Life expectancy is moreconsistent with the global trend-Almost equal numbers of each sex attend school, although low-Literacy rate is high but lower for females compared to males-Males have a higher incomecompared to women, consistentwith the global pattern

Gender Empowerment MeasureHow is it measured?

• The GEM demonstrates the ability of women to participate and determine the power structure of a country

2 Economic indicators:

-% of women in professional and technical jobs

-income level

2 Political indicators:

-% of women in admin or managerial jobs

-% of women holding elected positions

Gender Empowerment Measure

Nepal: GEM

• No data .50

1951 1951 1952A 14.8 6 5.9

Due to lack of data on the GEM,

Data was found on the Political

Participation Index

China: GEM

20.2 .66

1949 1949 1954E 5.1 21 20.2

Data for China can be combined from the GEM and the Political Participation index to discuss the political power of women compared to men in China.

GDI and GEM of an MDC:Sweden

2 0.946 82.5 77.5 100 100 124 104 23,781 28,700 -

2 0.854 45.3 31 50 0.83

When comparing Nepal and China to Sweden, what differences can you detect?

Conclusions

• -Just like the HDI, the GDI and GEM divide countries into high, medium, and low areas of development.

• -Cultural norms can control the advancement or subjugation of women and their status in certain regions of the world.

• -Gender inequality in income, education, and political power is a global problem.

Sources• Rubenstein, James M. (2008). An introduction to human geography

The cultural landscape. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

• de Blij, H.J., Murphy, ALexander B. & Fouberg, Erin H., Human geography, People, place, and culture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

• Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G. & Domosh, Mona, (2003). The human mosaic, A thematic introduction to cultural geography. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company.

• Knox, Paul L. & Marston, Sallie A., (2007). Human geography, Places and regions in global context. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

• Retrieved October 11, 2007, Web site: http://womenwarpeace.org/Portals/0/Documents/hdr04_gender_indicators.pdf

• Retrieved October 11, 2007, Web site:

http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2003/indicator/indic_207_1_1.html