The Global Gender Gap Index 2015 The Global Gender Gap Index was first introduced by and 2015 on the overall Index and four subindexes,as well the World Economic Forum in 2006 as a framework for as over 55 gender-related indicators that provide a fuller capturing the magnitude of gender-based disparities context for the country's performance.These indicators and tracking their progress.This year is the 10th edition include information on employment leadership;education of the Index,allowing for time-series analysis on the and technology;health;family;and rights and norms. changing patterns of gender equality around the world and comparisons between and within countries MEASURING THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP The Index benchmarks national gender gaps The methodology of the Index has remained stable since on economic,political,education and health criteria, its development in 2006,providing robust comparative and and provides country rankings that allow for effective intra-country information. comparisons across regions and income groups.The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among Three underlying concepts a global audience of the challenges posed by gender There are three basic concepts underlying the Global gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them.The Gender Gap Index,forming the basis of how indicators methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings were chosen,how the data is treated and the scale are intended to serve as a basis for designing effective used.First,the Index focuses on measuring gaps measures for reducing gender gaps rather than levels.Second,it captures gaps in outcome The first part of this chapter reviews the underlying variables rather than gaps in input variables.Third,it concepts employed in creating the Global Gender Gap ranks countries according to gender equality rather than Index and outlines the methods used to calculate it.The women's empowerment.These three concepts are briefly second part presents the 2015 rankings,global patterns outlined below.For a description of how these concepts regional performance and notable country cases.This are captured by the construction techniques used in the includes an analysis on country performance over time, creation of the Index,please see the "Construction of the particularly for those countries that have been included Index"section below. in the Index since 2006.Next,we provide information on the key trends that can be observed through a decade of Gaps vs.levels data for the 109 countries that have been covered since The Index is designed to measure gender-based gaps the first Index,by analysing data along subindex,income in access to resources and opportunities in countries and regional lines.The fourth part of this chapter lays out rather than the actual levels of the available resources and the economic case for gender equality,including links opportunities in those countries.We do this in order to between gender gaps and the economic performance of make the Global Gender Gap Index independent from the countries.In the fifth and final part,we provide information countries'levels of development.In other words,the Index on implications for public policy and business practices. is constructed to rank countries on their gender gaps not The Country Profiles contained in Part 2 of this Report on their development level.For example,rich countries, give a more detailed picture of the relative strengths and generally speaking,are able to offer more education and weaknesses of each country's performance compared health opportunities to all members of society,although with that of other nations and relative to its own past this is quite independent of the gender-related gaps that performance.The first page of each profile contains key may exist within those higher levels of health or education. demographic and economic indicators as well as detailed The Global Gender Gap Index rewards countries for information on the country's performance in 2015,including smaller gaps in access to these resources,regardless a comparison within its income group.The second page of the overall level of resources.Thus,in the case of of the Country Profiles shows the trends between 2006 education,the Index penalizes or rewards countries based The Global Gender Gap Report 2015 3The Global Gender Gap Report 2015 | 3 The Global Gender Gap Index was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress. This year is the 10th edition of the Index, allowing for time-series analysis on the changing patterns of gender equality around the world and comparisons between and within countries. The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups. The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. The methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings are intended to serve as a basis for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps. The first part of this chapter reviews the underlying concepts employed in creating the Global Gender Gap Index and outlines the methods used to calculate it. The second part presents the 2015 rankings, global patterns, regional performance and notable country cases. This includes an analysis on country performance over time, particularly for those countries that have been included in the Index since 2006. Next, we provide information on the key trends that can be observed through a decade of data for the 109 countries that have been covered since the first Index, by analysing data along subindex, income and regional lines. The fourth part of this chapter lays out the economic case for gender equality, including links between gender gaps and the economic performance of countries. In the fifth and final part, we provide information on implications for public policy and business practices. The Country Profiles contained in Part 2 of this Report give a more detailed picture of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each country’s performance compared with that of other nations and relative to its own past performance. The first page of each profile contains key demographic and economic indicators as well as detailed information on the country’s performance in 2015, including a comparison within its income group. The second page of the Country Profiles shows the trends between 2006 and 2015 on the overall Index and four subindexes, as well as over 55 gender-related indicators that provide a fuller context for the country’s performance. These indicators include information on employment & leadership; education and technology; health; family; and rights and norms. MEASURING THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP The methodology of the Index has remained stable since its development in 2006, providing robust comparative and intra-country information. Three underlying concepts There are three basic concepts underlying the Global Gender Gap Index, forming the basis of how indicators were chosen, how the data is treated and the scale used. First, the Index focuses on measuring gaps rather than levels. Second, it captures gaps in outcome variables rather than gaps in input variables. Third, it ranks countries according to gender equality rather than women’s empowerment. These three concepts are briefly outlined below. For a description of how these concepts are captured by the construction techniques used in the creation of the Index, please see the “Construction of the Index” section below. Gaps vs. levels The Index is designed to measure gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities in countries rather than the actual levels of the available resources and opportunities in those countries. We do this in order to make the Global Gender Gap Index independent from the countries’ levels of development. In other words, the Index is constructed to rank countries on their gender gaps not on their development level. For example, rich countries, generally speaking, are able to offer more education and health opportunities to all members of society, although this is quite independent of the gender-related gaps that may exist within those higher levels of health or education. The Global Gender Gap Index rewards countries for smaller gaps in access to these resources, regardless of the overall level of resources. Thus, in the case of education, the Index penalizes or rewards countries based The Global Gender Gap Index 2015