Santo Domingo.- The recent report “Pathways to Equality: Twin Indices on Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality” by UN Women and UNDP shows that no country has achieved full gender parity. Less than 1% of women and girls live in countries with high levels of female empowerment and a narrow gender gap. The report presents the Women’s Empowerment Index (WIE) and the Global Gender Parity Index (IGPG) as tools to measure gender parity and women’s empowerment.
The WIE evaluates the power and freedom of women to make decisions and access life opportunities in health, education, labor, financial inclusion, decision-making, and violence against women. The IGPG compares the status of men and women in dimensions such as health, education, inclusion, and decision-making.
For the Dominican Republic, the IEM value for 2022 indicates medium-low empowerment, 5% behind the Latin American and Caribbean region, and 6% behind countries with high human development. In terms of the GGPI, the country performs better than the Latin American region (0.771 vs. 0.751), placing it in the medium-high gender parity group.
The report emphasizes that these indices provide complementary perspectives for understanding and evaluating progress in human development, women’s empowerment, and gender equality. They reveal the challenges women face globally and inform policy. Despite the advances, women reach only 60% of their potential (IEM) and 72% of what men achieve (IGPG), indicating a gender gap of 28%.
The indices serve as tools for policymaking, highlighting areas such as health, education, work-life balance, equal participation, and violence prevention. They allow progress to be monitored, differences between countries to be highlighted, and can drive efforts towards a more equitable world.