Drawing the gender line

The Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is making its innovative Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base (GID-DB) available on Swivel.

The unique data will enable our visitors to discover connections between gender and other important issues facing society today. And by doing so, we hope to raise awareness of an emerging topic and a better understanding of gender disparities around the world.

The range of gender inequality topics includes concepts such as ownership rights, which measure the extent to which women are excluded from holding property or accessing bank loans; physical integrity; prevalence of early marriage (as well as child spouses) and obligation to wear a veil.

These kinds of topics are not normally addressed directly, much less monitored systematically, and represent a new approach for measuring societal indicators.

"Our mission is to help decision makers find policy solutions to fuel growth and enhance living conditions in developing markets," said Denis Drechsler, policy analyst, OECD Development Centre. "Empowering women and improving gender equality is one important aspect in this endeavor. By making this gender-focused data available to a wider audience via Swivel.com, we are hoping to encourage further communication across borders and facilitate decisions that better the lives of the people, particularly women, in these societies."