Comparison of measurements of gender inequality for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Women’s issues are a topic of great debate as women increase in their political and civil representation in the public arena. As some countries work towards a more just and equal society, we look for ways to measure that improvement in equality. Several indices have been developed by International agencies such as the United Nations, which are designed to measure a country’s well-being by looking at several factors relating to gender inequalities. The Gender Status Index (GSI), Gender Development Index (GDI), Gender Inequality Index (GII) and Freedom House indicators are all such indices. GSI and GDA are calculated from several power blocks and basic areas of human development within a particular country. The GII considers reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market while Freedom house indices consider political rights and civil liberties. This paper evaluates how well each index measures gender inequality in Sub-Saharan African countries as compared with the others by using a correlational study. This question stems from a larger study, which asks, “whether women’s increased numbers elected to Parliament lead to more effective governance, more humane debate and increased policy responsiveness to ‘women’s issues.’