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Women, Peace, and Security Index

The Dimensions

The Index Dimensions, Explained:

The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Index is a comprehensive measure of women’s wellbeing spanning three dimensions: inclusion (economic, social, political); justice (formal laws and informal discrimination); and security (at the family, community, and societal levels.) The data represent widely agreed-on measures and are derived from official sources (such as national statistical offices, UN organizations) or other reputable international sources (such as Gallup, Peace Research Institute Oslo, peer-reviewed journals). The data are based on population or a representative-survey-based measure and do not rely on the judgment of experts to score performance. Data are available for at least 120 countries for a recent year and are collected and processed in a statistically reliable way.
Nailatu Al-Quasm, 12, stands in her classroom at Gyezmo primary school in the town of Toro, Bauchi State. Other students are nearby. Their school is among the beneficiaries of the Girls’ Education Project (GEP). Led by the Government with support from the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID) and UNICEF, the GEP aims to get 1 million more girls into school by 2020, while at the same improving the quality of education. The project also calls for the deployment of more than 10,000 female teachers to rural areas, where the predominance of male teachers deters many parents from sending their girls to school. Nailatu enrolled in school during the GEP’s kick off in Bauchi. Her father, Kasimu Limon Toro, who now runs a traditional Koranic school in a hut near the family’s home, did not learn to write until he attended adult literacy classes, but he insists that all his 15 children “including the 11 girls” must get a good education. “I will support her in this with all my heart, until the day I die,” he said of Nailatu’s dreams of becoming a doctor. “I want to help people. I want to help my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters,” said Nailatu.

Inclusion

Inclusion is measured by women’s achievements in education, employment, and parliamentary representation, as well as access to cell phones and financial services.

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Claudia Paz y Paz sits at table

Justice

Justice is captured in both formal and informal aspects. It includes the extent of discrimination against women in the legal system. It also measures a bias in favor of sons and exposure to discriminatory norms, specifically those against women in economic opportunities and the world of paid work.

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Trafficking in Persons

Security

Security is measured at the family, community, and societal levels. It includes lifetime intimate partner violence. One in three women globally has experienced violence at home, with the rate rising as high as 78 percent in one country. Perception of community safety—which affects women’s mobility and opportunities outside the home—is included. As is organized violence, measured in battle deaths from state-based, non-state, and one-sided conflicts per 100,000.

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