• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.43-49
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• 2016

This paper explains concepts and methods of indexes measuring gender gaps. There are mainly 4 indexs, GDI, GEM, GII and GGI. UNDP developed GDI, GEM and GII. WEF developed GGI. Each index has its own strengths and weak points. Therefore it is important to understand each index in detail. For Korea, as men and women have been developed equally in areas of education and health, the GDI score was in a high group. However, the GEM and GGI scores were low. This implies that in order to reduce gender gaps, it is necessary to expand gender equality policies empowering economic and political empowerment.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.41-52
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine how female labor force participation, family policies, and gender equality are related to fertility rate across countries. Multiple measures has been collected from various data sources(such as OECD, UNDP, and WVS) and the panel data set which includes (mostly) OECD countries range from 1990 to 2019 are analyzed. The major findings are as follows. First, based on OECD countries samples, female labor force participation is positively associated with the fertility rate, which implies that women's labor force participation does not lead to a reduction in fertility rate. Second, the length of paternity leave is positively associated with fertility rate whereas the direction is the opposite for the relationship between the length of maternity leave and fertility rate. This is attributed to the possibility that a longer period of maternity leave incurs the a higher opportunity cost of earning income, which leads to a reduced fertility rate. Third, countries with higher gender inequality index tend to have a higher fertility rate. Similarly, countries with higher gender equality value have a lower fertility rate. When the gender equality value is devideed into three sub-categories, education, politics, and employment, the gender equality value in education is the only sub-category which is negatively associated with the fertility rate. This study confirms that female labor force participation may not be a contributing factor in the lowering of fertility rate but instead can be positively associated with the fertility rate. Also, the results show that family policies or gender equality values can be significantly affect fertility rate.