Since 2009, the OECD Development Centre has shed light on the structural and multiple barriers affecting women’s and girls’ lives in developing and developed countries through the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). By taking into account formal and informal laws, social norms and practices, the SIGI captures the underlying drivers of gender inequality, with the aim of promoting gender-transformative policies that stem from data and evidence. The SIGI is also one of the official data sources for monitoring Sustainable Development Goal indicator 5.1.1.

With only seven years to go before 2030, the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – “leaving no one behind” – is compromised. Despite progress, gender equality remains a distant goal and the world is not on track to achieve SDG 5, nor the other gender-related targets. At the heart of our failure to achieve gender equality lie persistent discriminatory social institutions. These formal and informal laws, social norms and practices fundamentally dictate what women and men are allowed to do, what they are expected to do, and in the end what they do. In the overwhelming majority of cases, women lose out. Addressing them is essential because gender equality is not only a social and moral obligation – it is a fundamental lever for strong, green and inclusive economic development.

Social institutions refer to the established set of formal and informal laws, norms and practices that govern behaviour in society. Discrimination in these institutions is at the heart of the inequalities and inequities that women face worldwide. Achieving gender equality, therefore, demands transforming discriminatory social norms into gender-equitable ones.

Building on the analysis presented in the following chapters of the SIGI 2023 Global Report, the present chapter provides an overview of the main results of the fifth edition of the OECD Development Centre’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) launched in March 2023. In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, it highlights how gender equality remains a distant objective despite notable progress. The chapter also presents the main findings of the two thematic chapters of the report, underlining the key role that discriminatory social institutions play in restricting women’s and adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights across the world and exploring the gendered dimensions of climate change. The chapter concludes by stressing the need for bold action in favour of gender equality, not only from governments and policy makers but from all stakeholders including bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, philanthropic organisations and civil society.

This chapter presents an overview of the global results of the fifth edition of the OECD Development Centre’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) launched in March 2023. Looking at formal and informal laws, social norms and practices, it summarises the main areas where progress has been accomplished since 2019 and where challenges remain towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda. Building on the four dimensions of the SIGI’s conceptual framework and adopting a global perspective, the chapter explores (i) how discrimination within the family sphere is the highest; (ii) why violence against women remains a global pandemic underpinned by its social acceptance; (iii) to what extent discriminatory laws and restrictive norms of masculinities hamper women's economic empowerment; and (iv) why women’s and girls’ agency in the public sphere remains limited despite the progress accomplished.

Discriminatory social institutions impede women and men from realising their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across the world. Laws, practices and social norms disproportionally undermine adolescents’ and women’s access to and realisation of SRHR as they are shaped and embedded in patriarchal systems. This chapter first looks at adolescents’ SRHR as a decisive factor for a person’s lifelong health, rights and development. It then analyses three aspects of SRHR that are globally relevant and locally essential to accelerate inclusive development in developing countries: maternal and newborn health; contraception use and family planning; and access to safe and legal abortion. The chapter provides actionable and evidence-based policy recommendations on how to address the discriminatory social institutions that limit access to and realisation of SRHR, including a focus on adolescents.

This chapter explores the gendered dimensions of climate change impacts, focusing on three climate change responses (i) resilient agriculture, (ii) disaster risk reduction and (iii) renewable energy. It examines existing systemic barriers hindering women’s empowerment to respond to, adapt to and mitigate climate change. The chapter seeks to inform policy makers at the regional and national levels on how they can better incorporate a gender lens in the implementation of their policies, programmes and strategies under the Paris Agreement. Finally, the chapter aims at supporting countries to enhance gender equality and mainstream a gender-transformative approach into sectoral and broader climate change policies and actions.