Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

Overview

• GEM is designed to measure gender equality, focusing on women's empowerment globally.
• Developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• GEM evaluates women's economic income, participation in high-paying jobs, and access to professional and political positions.
• Introduced in 1995 alongside the Gender-related Development Index (GDI).
• Focuses on empowerment topics not covered by GDI.

Purpose and Goals

• To measure gender inequality with a focus on empowerment.
• Enhance the Human Development Index by including a gender dimension.
• Aims to rival traditional income-focused measures like GDP and GNP.
• Key principle: should be simple, calculable, internationally comparable, and use readily available data.

Definition and Calculation

• GEM measures active participation in economic and political life and decision-making ability.
• Focuses on agency over well-being.
• Three indicators:
  • Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments.
  • Percentage of women in economic decision-making positions.
  • Female share of income compared to males.

Applications of GEM

• Used in academic research on gender politics.
• Studies suggest higher GEM scores correlate with spending on education and healthcare, and lower military spending.
• Used to study the relationship between women's empowerment and housework distribution.
• Research indicates a correlation between higher GEM scores and narrowing gender gaps in smoking rates.

Criticisms of GEM

• Specialized and complex, with data gaps affecting reliability.
• May not accurately compare across countries.
• Tends to focus on elite women, not accounting for grassroots or local political participation.
• Limited by statistical information availability in less-developed countries.
• Fails to address female control over bodies and sexuality.
• Overly reliant on income components.

Suggestions for Improvement

• Include female representation in local governments.
• Reflect female participation in voting and political activities.
• Incorporate measures of women's control over bodies and health metrics like maternal and infant mortality rates.
• Consider female unemployment and poverty levels.

Alternative Suggestions

• Separate Human Development Indexes for males and females.
• Gender-Gap Measure and Women's Empowerment Matrix proposed.
• Gender Equality Empowerment measure (GEE) suggested.
• Gender Inequality Index (GII) introduced in 2010 as a new measure.

Related Concepts

• Gender equality, Gender inequality, Gender Parity Index.
• Global Gender Gap Report, Social Institutions and Gender Index.
• UN Women, Human and National Human Development Reports.