Foreword
Since its launch in 2009, the OECD Development Centre’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) has been measuring and addressing gender-based discrimination by looking at the invisible part of the iceberg and providing a clearer vision of how social institutions shape women’s lives. The SIGI looks at the gaps that legislation, social norms and practices create between women and men in terms of rights and opportunities. This innovative tool assesses social institutions holistically by looking at the de jure and the de facto situations. Where customary laws and social norms still largely determine communities’ and individuals’ behaviour, standard policies to promote gender equality are insufficient to precipitate social transformation. The SIGI 2019 has also been adapted to meet the needs of the development community as it works towards Agenda 2030. The SIGI is an official data source for SDG indicator 5.1.1. on legal frameworks and for almost all targets included in SDG 5, providing a comprehensive vision of national progress on gender equality.
The SIGI Regional Report for Eurasia specifically analyses regional and sub-regional legal and cultural specificities in order to understand the barriers to gender equality more clearly and to identify the drivers behind persistent forms of discrimination. It offers policy recommendations for Eurasia to reshape gender norms, promote women’s roles in private and public spheres, and capitalise on opportunities.