Shannon, Geordan; (2018) Greater than the sum of its parts: Constructing an individual-level score to measure women’s achievement and gender equality in Peru. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Background Most international measures of gender equality aggregate data at a national level and do not allow disaggregated analyses within populations. I aimed to construct an index reflecting women’s achievements and gender equality at the individual level using existing, nationally-representative data from Peru as an exemplar. Methods and Results I identified 25 international compound measures of gender equality and critically reviewed ten. I conducted 46 semi-structured interviews with women and three focus group discussions with service providers in rural and urban areas of the Peruvian Amazon to explore local constructs of gender equality. Guided by qualitative findings, the score was designed to quantify both individual achievement and gender equality across several domains, calculating the gap between actual and optimal individual values. Using the nationally-representative 2015 ENDES survey, I identified 43 indicators of women’s achievement and gender equality, and assessed their content and construct validity using cognitive interviews. I used Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis to aggregate selected indicators into a Women’s Achievement and Gender Equality score (WAGE) for 20,111 ENDES participants. The WAGE Score had a median value of 0.35 (IQR 0.24, 0.43), suggesting that there was a 35% gap between actual and optimal achievement and equality in Peru. The WA and GE Score median values were 0.29 (IQR 0.13, 0.40) and 0.40 (IQR 0.31, 0.49) respectively, indicating that there was greater inequality than under-achievement. Finally, I used the WAGE Score to describe within-country gradients of women’s achievement and gender equality in Peru, which varied significantly by urban/rural location, ethnicity and wealth. Conclusion It was feasible to create an individual-level score reflecting women’s achievement and gender equality in Peru using existing household survey data. Re-conceptualising measures of women’s achievement and gender equality to the individual level, the WAGE Score describes gradients of gender equality and women’s achievements in Peru.

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