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. 2010 Jul 1;88(5):1941-1968.
doi: 10.1353/sof.2010.0040.

Trends in Global Gender Inequality (Forthcoming, Social Forces)

Shawn F Dorius  1 , Glenn Firebaugh
Affiliations

Trends in Global Gender Inequality (Forthcoming, Social Forces)

Shawn F Dorius et al. Soc Forces. .

Abstract

This study investigates trends in gender inequality for the world as a whole. Using data encompassing a large majority of the world's population, we examine world trends over recent decades for key indicators of gender inequality in education, mortality, political representation, and economic activity. We find that gender inequality is declining in virtually all major domains, that the decline is occurring across diverse religious and cultural traditions, and that population growth is slowing the decline because populations are growing faster in countries where there is the greatest gender inequality.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Change in Global Gender Inequality: Five Education Indicators
NOTE: First and last year point estimates are reported in Columns 1 and 2 of Table 4.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Change in Global Gender Inequality: Four Other Welfare Indicators vs Global Income Inequality
NOTE: All indicators are listwise complete except national legislators. Income is for both sexes combined and comes from Milanovic (2005; Table 11.1).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Annualized Rate of Change in Female Share by Majority Religious Tradition
NOTES: Countries were coded to a majority religion using the simple majority religion, where majority represents the religion with the largest number of within-country adherents. We use the five category religious coding scheme in order to capture a meaningfully large share of the world’s population in each category, but admit that the high level of aggregation we employ here masks considerable variation within each category. “China Universist” is the term used by Barrett, Kurian, and Johnson (2001) and refers to the amalgam of Toaist, Confucian, and Buddhist religious traditions adhered to by many Chinese and East Asians. A negative sign indicates that female share declined during the study period. SOURCES: See Appendix A for gender inequality data. Religion data are drawn from the Association of Religion Data Archives (2005) estimates of religious adherents.
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