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A New Global Measure of Gender Progress

April 20, 2017 Articles, INSEAD, Media / Op-ed
A New Global Measure of Gender Progress Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative | April 20, 2017 [caption id="attachment_3383" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Societies should look beyond where women fall behind and instead try to tap the full potential of both sexes.[/caption] Inequality is the “defining issue of our time”, said then U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 and again in 2013. The next year Pope Francis tweeted that inequality was the root of all social evil. And the IMF issued a report in 2015 framing income inequality as the “defining challenge of our time”. Where does gender fit in the inequality picture? In most countries, women who want to work face more hurdles than men and, when employed, are often paid less for the same work. Another report by the IMF showed how gender income gaps dampen productivity and growth at the worldwide level. There’s no question that closing gender gaps – typically understood as giving women equal rights – is a pressing issue. However, I would argue that just as society loses when women fall short, so too when men are stifled. What Jack can do so can Jill, and vice versa Take countries like Rwanda, Nicaragua…

Qatar’s gender gap is one of the largest in the world, new index says

March 17, 2017 Articles, Media / Op-ed
  MARCH 17, 2017 by VICTORIA SCOTT Qatar is home to one of the most unequal societies in the world when it comes to gender, according to a new index. The country ranked 117th out of 122 nations listed in business school INSEAD‘s Gender Progress Index 2017, which was released this month. That puts Qatar behind all of its Gulf peers. According to the report, the low score had to do with a lack of female political involvement, as well as the low number of men pursuing higher education in Qatar. That said, none of the Gulf countries fared particularly well in the index. The UAE was the highest-ranked GCC nation at 85th. Kuwait was 99th, Bahrain 103rd, Saudi Arabia 110th and Oman was 113th. ‘Uneven development’ The index covers five different aspects of a nation: education, health, labor, political involvement and society. Within each of these sections are several different parameters. These include PISA scores, obesity and mortality rates, shares of seats in positions of power and parental leave allowances. Qatar’s poor score is due to its “uneven development,” the report’s author and INSEAD economist Dr. Kai Chan told Doha News. “While good in some areas, it (Qatar’s development) is not balanced,” he said. A different kind of index According to Chan, this…

Ongoing quest to bridge the gender divide

March 14, 2017 Articles, Media / Op-ed
[caption id="attachment_3345" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Economist Kai Chan, author of the Gender Progress Index, is also a distinguished fellow at Insead who also advises the UAE Federal Government on competitiveness and statistics. Delores Johnson / The National.[/caption] Ongoing quest to bridge the gender divide Suzanne Locke March 13, 2017 Updated: March 13, 2017 06:18 PM When we try to close the gender gap for women, we should remember that there are two genders and that both have gaps, says economist Kai Chan. "Society progresses when both genders are able to maximise their outcomes," says Mr Chan, author of the Gender Progress Index, a report released by Insead business school in Abu Dhabi to commemorate International Women’s Day. "When we talk about gender there are two genders and both have gaps. It is about assessing which countries are doing the best at achieving the full potential of both sexes."  Mr Chan is a distinguished fellow at Insead who also advises the UAE federal Government on competitiveness and statistics. In his index, the UAE ranks 85 out of 122 countries, top in the GCC but lower than Tunisia or Algeria (at numbers 55 and 65 respectively) in the wider Middle East. Kuwait ranked…

UAE tops GCC in INSEAD Gender Progress Index

March 11, 2017 Articles, INSEAD, Media / Op-ed
Published Saturday, March 11, 2017 The UAE achieved another milestone in the area of women's empowerment by leading the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in a Gender Progress Index (GPI) released by INSEAD, a top business school. INSEAD's GPI takes a holistic view towards gender issues and includes five dimensions: Education, health, labour, politics and power, and society. The index considers the relative performance of men versus women with no distinction between the two. The findings of the index were discussed at a seminar marking International Women’s Day at the INSEAD Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi, and were presented by Dr. Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, Innovation & Policy Initiative, INSEAD. "The index will enable policy makers to understand the problems within society and focus on where efforts should be placed. It is about assessing which countries are doing their best in achieving the full potential of both sexes. There are more obstacles to women, but society progresses when both genders maximise their outcomes,'' Chan said. ''So far, other gender reports have focussed exclusively on either the level of gender progress or the ratio between men and women (i.e. absolute progress vs relative progress). For the GCC countries to perform…

UAE tops Gender Progress Index in GCC (Gulf News)

March 8, 2017 Articles, Media / Op-ed
The index reveals gender ratios on multiple dimensions and was revealed in Abu Dhabi on International Women’s Day Abu Dhabi: The UAE tops the GCC in a Gender Progress Index developed by one of the world’s leading business schools that takes a holistic view of gender issues. At a seminar held to mark International Women’s Day, titled ‘Inspire, Impact and Empower’, INSEAD revealed its findings on its Middle East campus in Abu Dhabi. Developed by Dr Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, Innovation and Policy Initiative, INSEAD, the index was created to help societies reach the full potential of both sexes, without prejudice on the gender of outcomes. It covers five dimensions: education, health, labour, politics and power, and society. The index is different from the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report (WEF GGR) which in 2016 reported that the most challenging gender gaps remain in the economic sphere and in health, projecting that, at the current rate of change, the gap will not be closed for another 170 years. “The [WEF GGR] report is a little misleading … it only looks at the gap in one dimension. This index looks at not only the gaps (the ratios of men to…

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