Gender Progress Index

Gender Progress Index Mao Zedong once remarked that “women hold up half the sky.” Yet in many countries today women are not fulfilling their potential due to cultural, legal and social impediments. But just as society loses when women fall short, so too when men are stifled. Society progresses when all its members are able to achieve more. The Gender Progress Index (GPI) is a measure of female-male progress that considers both the level of progress as well as the gap between the two. Levels are important as a country where people are equally under-utilised is not ideal. The gap is important as it indicates the internal gender dynamics within a country. The GPI also takes an agnostic view on female-male outcomes: male under-performance of female outcomes is equal to the inverse. To capture both the significance of levels and ratios into an index a measure can be defined using both level and ratio as inputs: y = f (L,R). This can be done using a Cobb-Douglas utility function with constant returns to scale: y = (L^0.5)*(R^0.5) where L is the unit-free score derived from the level values (a distance-to-frontier function) and R is the ratio of female-to-male or male-to-female value of the…

INSEAD releases Gender Progress Index on International Women’s Day

Index captures gender issues on multiple dimensions Middle East 08 March 2017 INSEAD, one of the world’s leading business schools, has launched the Gender Progress Index that takes a holistic view towards gender issues. The findings of the Index were discussed at a half day seminar marking International Women’s Day titled ‘Inspire, Impact, Empower’, at the INSEAD Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi. The Index was presented by Dr. Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, Innovation & Policy Initiative, INSEAD. The seminar featured several women leaders in the Middle East who have made a significant contribution to the region and society, including Khawla Al Serkal, Director General, Sharjah Ladies Club; Helen Al Uzaizi, Chief Executive Officer, BizWorld UAE, Leena Khalil Co-Founder  Mumzworld.com; Hanan Darwish, Cluster President, Gulf and Pakistan, Schneider Electric; Sara Mohamed, Managing Partner, Executive-Women; Dunia Othman, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, mrUsta . Miguel Sousa Lobo, Associate Professor of Decision Sciences, Director of the Middle East Campus, INSEAD delivered the welcome note. He said:”It is important to understand the complexity around gender roles in a globalized world in order to develop different strategies to minimize gender gaps that differ across cultures and across domains – economic, health, legal, and…

Les langues, ligne de clivage du « village global »

La mondialisation devrait sceller la prédominance de l’anglais et du mandarin. Pourtant, l’influence d’autres langues – dont le français – demeure. Si le nombre global de langues tend à diminuer, le multilinguisme monte en puissance. Et une nouvelle ligne de partage se dessine entre espaces polyglottes et territoires mono-linguistiques. « Si un extra-terrestre débarquait sur terre, quelle langue lui permettrait d’entrer pleinement en relation avec le genre humain ? ». Ce petit détour par l’absurde est au principe de l’étude en forme de classement1 qu’a menée pendant six mois l’économiste montréalais d’origine cantonaise Kai L. Chan sur l’influence des langues dans le monde. De prime abord, la réponse semble aller de soi. Le martien en villégiature terrestre n’aurait aucune chance de communiquer sans le secours de l’anglais. Dans tous les principaux domaines de référence qui ont servi à cette évaluation (géographie, économie, communication, savoir et média, diplomatie), la langue de Shakespeare conserve son indéfectible premier rang. « Le monde converge vers un équilibre où l’anglais tient le rôle de lingua franca », rappelle Kai L. Chan. « On le voit, par exemple, dans les transports en commun japonais où les annonces et la signalisation se font aussi en anglais. Et de nombreux pays suivent le mouvement…

Mejorando la relevancia mundial del castellano

Para Cristian Mancilla El doctor Kai Chan describe un método para medir la utilidad o eficacia —me atrevería a decir también relevancia— de una lengua de acuerdo con cinco criterios: geografía, economía, comunicación, conocimiento y diplomacia. El factor geográfico considera los países en los que se habla una lengua, el área terrestre y los turistas que llegan a ella. El factor económico considera el PIB, el ingreso per cápita, las exportaciones, el mercado de divisas y la composición SDR. El factor comunicativo considera los hablantes nativos, los hablantes de segunda lengua, el tamaño de las familias y los turistas que salen. El factor cognitivo-mediático considera el contenido de Internet, las películas estelares, las quinientas universidades mejor posicionadas y las revistas académicas. El factor diplomático, por último, considera el FMI, la ONU, el Banco Mundial y un conjunto de diez organizaciones supranacionales. Hay dos aspectos específicos del factor cognitivo-mediático sobre los cuales estoy influyendo con mi actividad de escritura: el contenido de Internet y las revistas académicas. Chan fue consultado en una charla acerca de por qué no había incluido los libros publicados y traducidos en el índice y respondió que estos datos no están fácilmente disponibles en Internet, así que deberemos…

MP laughed at for his bus-driving past? Elitist attitudes persist in politics, experts say

By Tania Kohut National Online Journalist, Breaking News  Global News A sharp chorus of laughter was heard in the House of Commons on Tuesday as Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi mentioned his past career as a bus driver, while offering condolences for a slain Winnipeg Transit employee. On Wednesday, Liberal MP Adam Vaughan asked that the laughter heard the day before be withdrawn, and the record corrected. He called it offensive to the House, the values of Canadians and to the country’s diversity. “Laughing at the previous employment status of a member of this House is offensive, especially when that service was a public service to the people of this country.” In response, Tory MP Candice Bergen agreed with Vaughan’s message of inclusion, and rebuffed the accusation that her party members would laugh at a person’s past profession. After all, it’s called the House of Commons due to its intent to represent common Canadians. “We absolutely respect and honour all of the jobs that we have done, and the experience that we bring to this House,” Bergen said. But with all the talk of diversity in politics — getting more women involved, people of all ethnic backgrounds — professional experience and education can be added to the list of invisible barriers. Politicians tend to…

New ratings for a knowledge economy

FEBRUARY 07, 2017 Author: MARK TOWNSEND Which countries lead the global knowledge economy? At least one academic suggests that current assessments of a country’s knowledge base are too narrow and reliant on averages. Historically, evaluations used a binary measure focusing on quantity of education and average scholastic performance. In research to be presented in April at INSEAD, Kai Chan, a distinguished fellow at INSEAD Abu Dhabi, argues that its brightest talents—not its average capabilities—determine the knowledge capacity of a country. He has developed the Intellectual Capital Index (ICI), which incorporates factors like creativity and the ability to attract talent. “It is a fresh perspective that recognizes that it is the right tail of the distribution, rather than the average, that expands the frontier,” he tells Global Finance. The ICI considers six aspects that influence knowledge acquisition/production: (1) quantity of education, (2) quality of education, (3) average educational skills, (4) elite educational skills, (5) creativity and complexity and (6) attractiveness and openness to talent. There are 24 indicators spanning the life cycle of talent, and according to Chan the index is a measure of a country’s stock of “smarts.” Using his formula to rank countries with the best intellectual ecosystem, Chan…

TRENDS magazine interview: Uncertainty reigns

UNCERTAINTY REIGNS Published: Jan 26, 2017 [caption id="attachment_2347" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dr Kai L Chan, Economist and Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD, and advisor to the UAE government on competitiveness and statistics[/caption] Kai L Chan, economist and distinguished fellow at INSEAD, and advisor to the UAE government on statistics and competitiveness, says the big story in 2017 and beyond will be how China will engage with the international community as it economic power continues to rise. Q: 2016 has been a tough year for many oil-rich Gulf countries, especially due to dwindling oil prices. What are your expectations for 2017? A: Oil prices are expected to make a moderate recovery, but most forecasts peg the long-term price to still be well below the peak price of the early half of the decade (above $100). In fact, recent moves by OPEC have already given the price a small boost. In 2017, the price is expected to recover toward $60. Although much higher than the low experienced in 2015 (below $30), this is still less than the (pre-drop) break-even price for most countries in the region. So this means countries in the region will need to adjust their spending behavior, though less so in…

Le français troisième

Un nouveau classement international place le français au troisième rang 9 janvier 2017 |Jean-Benoît Nadeau | Actualités en société | Selon un nouveau classement publié en décembre et intitulé Power Language Index (Indice des langues influentes), le français se classe troisième parmi les langues les plus influentes, après l’anglais et le chinois, mais devant l’espagnol, l’arabe et le russe. Son auteur, le professeur Kai L. Chan, qui est chercheur invité à l’INSEAD, et Torontois d’origine, a mesuré 124 langues selon 20 indicateurs. Ils les regroupent en cinq catégories : géographie, économie, communication, connaissance et information, et diplomatie. Chacune de ces grandes catégories compte pour 9 points sur 40 (ou 22,5 %) et la cinquième, la diplomatie, pour 4 points sur 40 (ou 10 %). Le français se range 2e pour la géographie, 6e pour l’économie, 5e pour la communication, 5e pour la connaissance et les médias et 1er pour la diplomatie, et donc globalement 3e. Ses conclusions sont d’autant plus intéressantes qu’elles sont similaires à d’autres classements, malgré des méthodes et des indicateurs très différents. Pour mémoire, je rappelle que le premier du genre, celui de George Weber il y a 20 ans, se basait sur seulement six critères. Quant à l’étude du MIT (Global Language Network), elle se…

Quelles sont les langues les plus puissantes au monde ?

Quelles sont les langues les plus puissantes au monde ? Par Liv Audigane | 02/01/2017 à 15:42, mis à jour le 02/01/2017 [caption id="attachment_3174" align="aligncenter" width="600"] L'anglais reste la langue dominante des échanges internationaux. @Shutterstock[/caption] Sans surprise, l’anglais reste la langue des affaires, de la culture et de la diplomatie. Mais le français, le mandarin ou l’espagnol ne sont pas en reste. Si un extra-terrestre débarquait sur Terre, quelle langue devrait-il apprendre ? Laquelle lui permettrait de communiquer avec le plus de monde, et de manière efficace ? C’est ainsi que l’on pourrait présenter les recherches de Kai Chan, chercheur associé à l’INSEAD et auteur du “Power Language Index”. Cette étude, publiée en mai 2016, vise non pas à déterminer quelle langue est la plus parlée sur notre planète, mais laquelle a le plus d’influence. Pour mesurer l’efficacité et l’influence d’un langage, l’économiste est parti du constat que les langues offrent cinq types d’opportunités : communiquer, prendre part à l’économie, augmenter ses connaissances et lire les médias, se déplacer et s’impliquer dans les relations diplomatiques. A partir de ces cinq facteurs, il a déterminé un top 10 en s’appuyant sur les chiffres d’exportation, du tourisme, de la production de films…

G&M: ‘Bottle ladies’

Letter to the Globe & Mail Published December 29, 2016 Marcus Gee’s article on Toronto’s “bottle ladies” (The Secret Lives Of Bottle Ladies – Dec. 24) was a refreshing look into the invisible poverty of parts of the highly diverse Chinese community of Toronto. This community generally keeps its head down and is not associated with negative social behaviours, so has not attracted the attention or sympathy of social activists. When I was a child, and before Toronto’s initial Blue Box recycling program, I, too, collected empty beer bottles and cans (found in alley ways and park garbage bins) to return for a refund at the Beer Store. It was a means to make a little honest money to counter growing up in poverty. Although Mr. Gee notes that the women collecting bottles in his story are not doing it primarily because of money, I can assure you there are many who do it to supplement a meagre income and lifestyle. Poverty and its hardships for some members of this community are acute because they lack (among other things) the social capital and knowledge of the charitable services etc. available to them. If only my parents had known about food banks…