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. 2013 Jul 16;13:659. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-659

Table 1.

Method used to calculate gender gaps in the Gender Equity Index (proposed by Social Watch) and the modified Gender Equity Index

Social watch gender equity index (SW) Modified gender equity index
SW defines the corresponding gap between women (W) and men (M) as: Gap.c=%Wc%Mc.WFP1 where % Wc and % Mc are, respectively, the% of W and M with the characteristic
The MGEI compares the proportions of women and men with a particular characteristic (c) in absolute terms (difference PWc − PMc), standardising the result so that the “modified gap” (MGap. c) is defined as:
(c), and WFP=PopWPopM is the weight of the female population.
MGap.c=PWcPMcPWc+PMc

This expression of the gender gap is simplified by replacing the inverse value of the weight of the female population: Gap.c=%Wc%Mc.PopMPopW=Wc.100/PopMc.100/Pop.PopMPopW=WcMc.PopMPopW=WcPopW.PopMWc
Where Pop is the total population.
The proportions have values of between 0 and 1, from which it results that: − (PWc + PMc) ≤ PWc − PMc ≤ PWc + PMc, whilst dividing by PWc + PMc results in − 1 ≤ MGap. c ≤ 1.
If PMc=WcPopW and PMc=McPopM are respectively the proportions of W and M with a particular characteristic (c) out of their corresponding totals, the gap suggested by SW allows the following formulation:
Gap.c=PWcPMc

 
Once the gender gap has been calculated, the GEI is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the 3 gaps:
GEI=Empowerment.Gap+Economic.Act.Gap.+Education.Gap3

Social Watch GEI values:
0 (inequity) - 1 (gender equity)
Modified GEI values:
- 1 (Women inequity) 0 (equity) 1 (Men inequity)