science

Women's Economic Opportunity Index

Women's Economic Opportunity Index is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Women's Economic Opportunity Index rather than just read about it. In short: The Women's Economic Opportunity Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit that measures the enabling environment for women's economic participation in 128 countries. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Women's Economic Opportunity Index is based on 29 indicators that measure a country's laws, regulations, practices, customs and attitudes that allow women to participate in the workforce under condi…

Key takeaways

Women's Economic Opportunity Index belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Women's Economic Opportunity Index to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Women's Economic Opportunity Index from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Women's Economic Opportunity Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit that measures the enabling environment for women's economic participation in 128 countries. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Women's Economic Opportunity Index is based on 29 indicators that measure a country's laws, regulations, practices, customs and attitudes that allow women to participate in the workforce under conditions roughly equal to those of men, whether as wage-earning employees or as owners of a business. The index was first produced in 2010, with an updated index produced in 2012. Three indicators were added and 15 new countries were assessed in the 2012 version of the Index. According to the latest issue of the Index, for 2012 Norway and Sweden kept their top positions from 2010 with scores of 90.4 and 88.3, respectively. Chad and Sudan remained at the bottom of the index with scores of 23.3 and 19.2, respectively. Countries that had the most changes from the 2010 index included Kenya, which went from 90th place to 86th place. The Index suggests that this change occurred because the Kenyan government enacted new policies mandating equal pay for equal work, and made sexual harassment in the workplace illegal. Thailand moved up one place from 2010 to 2012; the index claimed that Thai women gained greater support for business skills training more than any of their regional counterparts. Saudi Arabia's score increased from 35.9 in 2010 to 39.7 in 2012 mainly due to a ministerial order that included equal remuneration for men and women. In 2019, the index was superseded by the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law index.

Methodology The Women's Economic Opportunity Index uses a quantitative and qualitative scoring model, constructed from 29 indicators, measuring specific attributes of the environment for women employees and entrepreneurs in 128 economies. Five category scores are calculated from the unweighted mean of underlying indicators and scaled from 0–100, where 100=most favourable. These categories are: Labour policy and practice (which comprises two sub-categories: Labour policy and Labour practice); Access to finance; Education and training; Women's legal and social status; and the General business environment. Each category or sub-category features several underlying indicators. The overall score (from 0–100) is calculated from an average of the unweighted category and indicator scores. Data for the quantitative indicators are drawn from national and international statistical sources. Some qualitative indicators were created by the Economist Intelligence Unit, based on legal documents and texts; others have been drawn from a range of surveys and data sources and adjusted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The sources used in the Women's Economic Opportunity Index are the Economist Intelligence Unit; the International Labour Organization (ILO); the World Bank Group; the International Monetary Fund; the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division; the UN Secretary-General’s database on violence against women; the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Social Security Online; the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP); the World Economic Forum; the World Health Organization; Worldwide Governance Indicators; Freedom House; Vision of Humanity; and national statistical offices.

2012 rankings

See also Gender-related Development Index Gender Empowerment Measure Human development (humanity) Human Development Index Democracy Index

References

External links Women's Economic Opportunity Index 2012 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/women-rule-the-awesome-worldwide-rise-of-female-workers/254063/ https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/03/economic-opportunity-women http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/03/09/chart-of-the-week-why-are-there-more-em-women-executives/#axzz1pYduQ7qZ http://spyghana.com/business-news/ghana-improves-ranks-91st-on-2012-global-womens-economic-opportunity-index/ http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/the-word-on-women/indias-incredible-gender-gap Global-competitiveness World Economic Forum index

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Women's Economic Opportunity Index

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Women's Economic Opportunity Index claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Women's Economic Opportunity Index before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Women's Economic Opportunity Index ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Women's Economic Opportunity Index

In research: Women's Economic Opportunity Index appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Women's Economic Opportunity Index in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Women's Economic Opportunity Index is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010 introductions, Economic indicators, International rankings, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Women's Economic Opportunity Index outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Women's Economic Opportunity Index in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Women's Economic Opportunity Index means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Women's Economic Opportunity Index out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Women's Economic Opportunity Index in simple terms?

Why does Women's Economic Opportunity Index matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Women's Economic Opportunity Index?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Women's Economic Opportunity Index.