Basic Indicator of Gender Inequality (BIGI)

A nation’s BIGI score is simply the average of the gender ratios for the three key ingredients of the BIGI.

Each of these three elements weighs equally in the calculation. For the sources of these three factors and more information about the methodology, read the original article in PLOS ONE.

A gender ratio is the score of one gender divided by the score of the other gender (typically score of women divided by score of men). We use the gender ratio minus 1.0, such that BIGI scores below zero mean than women are better off; scores higher than zero mean that men are better off (example below).

The BIGI as reported here is the average of the BIGI of the years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. That is, it is a 5-year BIGI. The calculation of each year uses exactly the same methodology. Below are the details for the 2016 data.

About: Bahrain scores best in the BIGI. Bahrain is an island in the Persian Gulf with fewer than a million citizens, an unusually large number of foreign workers, and it is therefore not truly comparable to the other economically and geographically diverse nations listed.

Gender inequality: Bahrain’s men and women have an equal life expectancy. Possibly, the taboo on alcohol in Islamic countries protects men’s health. Men fall slightly behind in basic education and life satisfaction.

How to improve: There is very little Bahrain can do in regard to gender inequality. Strengthening policies to ensure all children attend school will likely help to make gains in basic education.

About: Great Britain (aka UK) is a very highly developed nation with a well-developed social safety net. For example, it has a national health service freely accessible for all residents.

Gender inequality: Great Britain has a relatively low level of gender inequality. Gender differences in life satisfaction are negligible. Men fall somewhat behind in years of secondary education, while they fall more than 3.3% behind in healthy life expectancy (70 years for men and 72 years for women in the 2012-2016 period).

How to improve: Most potential for improvement lies in the area of healthy life expectancy. Currently, Great Britain has a national health strategy for women, but not for men. Creating a national health strategy for men has the potential to make a real difference. The knowledge and skills needed to run a gender-specific health strategy are available in Great Britain. Further, a greater focus on the education gap is needed. The BIGI only looks at years of education, but the reality is that boys do not achieve as well as girls in the time they attend school (this starts already in pre-school).

About: The Netherlands is a densely populated Western European nation with relatively high taxes (as is the case in many North-Western European nations). The Netherlands has a strong social safety net.

Gender inequality: The Netherlands rank highly, although women are overall somewhat better off, which is mostly due to the gap in healthy life expectancy. Differences in overall life satisfaction and opportunitiies in basic education are minimal.

How to improve: Given that the largest gap is in healthy life expectation, this is where the most gains in gender equality can be made; this is the case in the other North-Western European nations too. While these countries provide good access to health care, there is typically no systematic strategy for engaging men in preventative health care (but see Ireland).

About: Norway is a small Scandinavian country in terms of population (just over 5 million), but has a relatively large land size. After Iceland, it is the least densely populated Western-European nation. It has the world-highest level of human development score and is ranked the most gender-equal country in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. It has a strong social safety net.

Gender inequality: Norway scores well, although it is not the highest ranking country. Women do slightly better in each of the BIGI dimensions, mostly so in regard to health. This is similar to the other very highly developed Western nations listed here.

How to improve: As is the case for other very highly developed nations, focusing on men’s health would make the biggest difference.

About: Of the countries where men have it, on average, better than women (according to the BIGI score), Israel is the highest ranking country. Israel has a unique history of high levels of immigration from around the world, and has a unique history in regard to gender equality as well (e.g., in the Kibbutz system and military service). At the same time, it is a country that sees large socioeconomic differences along ethnic lines.

Gender inequality: On the whole, Israel does very well (BIGI rank #2), but there are gaps in the individual domains (hence AADP rank #13). Men’s healthy life expectancy is shorter (71 years) than that of women (74 years), while women are disadvantaged in educational opportunities (in secondary education) and life satisfaction. As for countries that have good overall gender parity (i.e., BIGI), the short healthy life expectancy is traded off against education and life satisfaction.

Israel is the highest ranking country in which men have it better than women, although this difference is negligibly small. In fact, Israel is after Italy the country with most balance gender equality (BIGI), although there are some larger differences in the individual domains (hence the lower AADP score of 13).

How to improve: The largest gap is in regard to men’s healthy life expectancy (in favor of women) and the second largest gap in regard to girls' educational opportunities in secondary education. Focusing on men’s health while encouraging families to ensure that their daughters benefit from secondary education will make most gains.

About: Norway’s eastern neighbor has a large geographical area with a relatively small population (10 million), most of which live in the south. It is listed here as a case study because the Swedes are proud of their gender equality. Similar to other North-Western European nations, it has a strong social safety net.

Gender inequality: In BIGI, Sweden is not one of the top nations in regard to gender equality, although their score is still good. The overlooked problem in Sweden is that the gender gap in healthy life expectancy is more than 3%. This is similar to that in Great Britain or The Netherlands.

How to improve: As for many other highly developed Western nations, men’s health needs more attention. Sweden spends considerably more on women’s health than men’s health, even after taking into account reproductive health. Information campaigns to better engage men in preventative health care might help to address this issue.

About: Australia’s culture is still strongly influenced by its British heritage. Australia’s social safety net is comparable to that of Western European nations. It has a diverse population (of around 25 million).

Gender inequality: Australia is a good example of a very highly developed country with women doing somewhat better than men, in particular in regard to healthy life expectancy (71 years for men and 74 years for women in the 2012-2016 period).

How to improve: The biggest gain can come from an improved healthy life expectancy of men. A national health strategy for men, including a focus on prevention, might help. Australia’s government has announced such a plan in 2018, and is thus a vanguard in this regard.

About: Germany is the most populous country of the European Union (population 82 million), and it is its economic powerhouse. Germany reunited in 1990, after the cold war ended, and dealt with the large cost of helping the underdeveloped former East Germany. Today, Germany is a prosperous country with a strong social safety network.

Gender inequality: Germany is certainly not among the top nations in gender equality. Given its high level of development and its reputation of a country that is good at dealing with great challenges, Germany has some real surprises: Germany is the only wealthy European country where girls fall behind in basic education (it is similar to Albania and Bulgaria). Further, the healthy life expectancy gap in favor of women is more than 5% (70 years for men and 74 for women in the 2012-2016 period).

How to improve: Germany has done much over the past 20 years to monitor its education gaps and in some ways does more than other countries (see note below). And yet, it urgently needs to address the question why far fewer girls than boys seem to participate in secondary education (although it is currently unclear why this might be). Further, similar to other Western-European nations, it needs to rethink its approach to preventative health care for men, whose healthy life expectancy is almost 4 years shorter than that of women.

About: The US is the largest and the most powerful Western nation. Its economy is the world’s most influential. Compared to other Western nations, taxes are low and, as a consequence, the social safety net is comparatively weak. That possibly also explains why the overall healthy life expectancy (just under 70 years in the 2012-2016 period) was lower than that of any nation in Western Europe.

Gender inequality: Given its wealth and very high level of human development, its BIGI score is surprisingly low. Men fall behind in all three BIGI indicators. In regard to healthy life expectancy, the gap is nearly 5% (68 years for men and 71 years for women in the 2012-2016 period).

How to improve: Initiatives focusing on men’s access to (or use of) health care, as well as those focusing on boys' education and health might help to address the current inequalities.

About: China is the world’s most populous nation. It has seen and is still seeing rapid changes in economic and human development. In the last decade, it has moved from medium to high human development.

Gender inequality: China does well in terms of overall gender parity (BIGI rank #8), and scores medium in terms of AADP (#38). Nevertheless, on average, girls fall behind considerably in basic education. This is likely due to the situation in rural areas — it is well known that China has a considerable rural/urban gap, and this particularly affects girls over 14 years old (e.g., Song et al., 2006 and ChinaDaily). At the same time, men’s healthy life expectancy (66 years) is shorter than that of women (69 years).

How to improve: Although Chinese boys and girls in urban areas achieve very similarly in the tri-annual PISA tests, there is a great need to improve access to basic secondary education in rural areas, with a focus on girls (there are initiatives, although we do not have much details). A secondary issue is in regard to men’s healthy life span, which needs a more targetted approach (as is the case in much of the rest of the industrialized world).

About: Brazil is the largest nation in South America and the 5th largest in the world. It has a high level of human development and has seen fast economic growth in the first decade of this century. It is one of the BRIC countries. Brazil has a high degree of income inequality; despite wealth among some sections of the population, large sections of the population live in poverty.

Gender inequality: Men fall behind in all 3 BIGI components, mostly in healthy life expectancy (62 years for men and 67 years for women in the 2012-2016 period), and second most in basic education.

How to improve: The gender gap in healthy life expectancy is large and needs to be improved. The Brazilian government has set positive steps with the creation of a national health plan for men (2008), and if developed further, this may well help to close this gap in the longer term. Further, improvements in safety (including interventions in regard to criminal gangs), which affects more men than women, will not only help to reduce the healthy life expectancy gap, but likely also reduces the gap in education.

About: Japan is a very highly developed, large, and influential Asian nation. Japan faced enormous economic growth in the second half of the 20th century, which has now slowed down and Japan faces new challenges with an ageing population. Nonetheless, Japan is a country with a strong social safety network and very low levels of crime. Japan has the world highest healthy life expectancy. At the same time, Japan has unique sociocultural problems, such as overworking.

Gender inequality: Men fall considerably behind women in healthy life expectancy (72 years for men and 78 years for women in the period 2012-2016) and in life satisfaction.

How to improve: It is possible that Japan’s work culture contributes to both to men’s considerably shorter healthy life expectancy and lower life satisfaction. Japanese policy makers and business leaders need to create a national plan for a better work-life balance to reduce the large cost of overworking, which seems to be a heavier burden for men than women.

About: Estonia is one of the small Baltic states (population: 1.3 million) that became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Although all previous Eastern-Block nations still have much to do to catch up with their Western-European neighbors, Estonia is in many ways a success story and has a relatively good social safety net.

Gender inequality: Estonia scores poorly, because of the huge gender gap in healthy life expectancy (62 years for men and 71 years for women in the 2012-2016 period). Alcohol seems to play a big role in this.

How to improve: Estonia can close the gender gap by focusing on men’s health, especially by tackling alcohol consumption and by promoting a healthy life style. Estonia is taking active steps to reduce alcohol consumption, which may well pay off if successful.

About: Saudi Arabia is a very highly developed nation that acquires most of its wealth from oil revenue. Known for its strict and traditional approach to gender roles, men and women shop and work typically in completely separate spaces.

Gender inequality: It may surprise many, but Saudi Arabia has a high level of overall gender parity (BIGI). While women’s basic education falls behind that of men considerably, men score lower on healthy life expectancy and life satisfaction. In other words, the issues men and women suffer from cancel each other out, resulting in parity (good BIGI). While men and women both face difficulties in life (as reflected in a low AADP rank), on the whole their issues are comparable in magnitude (i.e., high BIGI rank).

How to improve: The country has to do much in regard to reducing gender inequality in each of the specific domains (education, health, life satisfaction). Policies (and their implementation) to ensure that girls get basic education are urgently needed. Further, men’s physical and mental well-being clearly requires attention. More research is needed to better understand what can be done, especially because there is little accessible research on Saudi’s men’s health and well-being.

About: South Africa is a medium developed nation. Despite the transition from apartheid, the country has enormous socioeconomic inequality and more than half the population lives below the poverty line.

Gender inequality: Men fall behind considerably in education. In this regard, South Africa deviates much from many other sub-Saharan nations (where often girls fall behind). Further, men have a shorter healthy life expectancy (48 years for men and 51 years for women in the 2012-2016 period).

How to improve: Both boys' and men’s education and health need urgent attention. As for Brazil, a reduction in violence will support this in addition to preventative health care and investment in educational resources.

About: India has a population nearly as large as that of China. Like China, India has seen and is still seeing rapid changes in economic and human development (although India is still medium developed). Major equality issues in India are child labor and religious social stratification of society.

Gender inequality: India scores poorly on the BIGI. The major problem is that girls fall behind enormously in regard to education. There is no other country with a comparable level of human development in which girls fall behind so much in terms of illiteracy. To see this in the table, sort countries by "Education" and note that all the countries with a larger gender gap in education also have a lower Human Development Index (HDI) score.

How to improve: The high level of illiteracy among girls (and women) is caused by various underlying factors (for example, read this). A larger investment in basic education (i.e., increase percentage of GDP spent on basic education) would likely be a good first step. But given the large gender gap and generally high level of illiteracy (among both genders), enormous changes in educational policy and expenditure will be necessary to reduce India’s gender inequality.

About: Chad scores lowest in the BIGI. Given Chad’s large size (4th largest land size in Africa), it has a relatively small population (currently around 16 million). That said, the population is ethinically diverse, young, and fast growing. Many people live a traditional nomadic life style. It belongs to the world least developed nations and suffers from continued conflicts in the Lake Chad basin.

Gender inequality: Chad has a very large gender gap in education, with only one third of women being literate compared to half of men. The other gaps pale in comparison to this gap, although Chad’s gender gap in life satisfaction (also in favor of men) is one of the largest as well.

How to improve: Similar to many other African nations, women fall behind enormously in literacy and life satisfaction. The traditional nomadic life style and the lack of infrastructure in a very large country with vast expanses of wild nature will make it difficult to change this rapidly. On top of this, parts of Chad continue to see conflict interfering with education. Solving the ongoing conflicts, abolishing school fees, the creation of new schools, investing in teacher training, and ensuring healthy nutrition are all factors that can, in the long run, contribute to higher levels of literacy (for an expert viewpoint on some of these factors, read this).