African Gender Development Index
Objectives
AGDI provides a mechanism for measuring the status of women as compared to men’s in the social, economic and political spheres. In developing this index, UNECA pursues following objectives:
- To provide African policymakers and their partners with an appropriate tool to measure gender equality and equity, and women’s empowerment and advancement;
- To help monitor the progress made in implementing conventions that African countries have ratified;
- To democratize statistics and qualitative monitoring tools that are easy to use and are effective; and
- To stimulate interdepartmental cooperation within the Ministries in which it will be applied.
Composition of the AGDI
The AGDI is based on the Gender Status Index (GSI) and the African Women’s Progress Scoreboard (AWPS). GSI and AWSP combine both quantitative and qualitative indicators, thus making AGDI a strategic tool for stimulating the process of community participation and enhancing political awareness of gender issues.
Gender Status Index (GSI)
The GSI captures quantitatively measurable issues related to gender equality. It is based on three blocs: social power (capabilities), economic power (opportunities) and political power (agency).
African Women’s Progress Scoreboard (AWPS)
The AWPS measures government policy performance regarding women’s advancement and empowerment. It focuses on qualitative issues and fills the gap between purely quantitative indicators, such as those contained in the GSI, and more country-specific or sector-specific indicators, or those related to decision-making and well-being at household and individual level. The AWPS is composed of four blocks, namely women’s rights, social power (capabilities), economic power (opportunities) and political power (agency).
Pilot Countries
The AGDI has been piloted in the following 12 countries: Benin , Burkina Faso , Cameroon , Ethiopia , Egypt , Ghana , Madagascar , Mozambique , Gender Equality in South Women and African Economic Development, Tanzania , Tunisia and Uganda . The results of the trials are published in the African Women’s Report 2004.