Effective government policies for advancing equality for women and girls: international evidence review

Footnotes

1 The OECD Development Centre’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) measures discrimination against women in social institutions across 179 countries. By taking into account laws, social norms and practices that restrict women’s and girls’ rights and access to empowerment opportunities and resources, the SIGI captures the underlying drivers of gender inequality.

2 It was decided that six examples had a strategy rather than policy focus and would not be included as specific examples, albeit acknowledging the importance of links across and between national strategies. These related to fiscal or monetary responses to the cost-of-living crisis, universal access to services or whole-system responses to unpaid care. Another example (relating to mandating gender diverse boards) was not taken forward as it did not offer any learning/progression relative to the current context in Scotland and it was also decided that only one of the examples relating to access to blue/green infrastructure in urban spaces was required.

3 The research team then carried out a targeted further search – primarily of grey literature – and identified two additional examples to include in this report. These related to tackling the digital and science divide in schools and gender, disability, intersectionality and the Criminal Justice System.

4 These included a number of European Union (EU) wide initiatives. These have not been included since the focus was on national rather than supranational policy.

5 ‘At risk of poverty or social exclusion’, abbreviated as AROPE, corresponds to the sum of persons who are either at risk of poverty, or severely materially and socially deprived or living in a household with a very low work intensity - (quasi-) jobless households. The AROPE rate is the share of the total population which is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. It is the main indicator to monitor the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion.

6 Until 2022, the Canadian federal government used the acronym ‘LGBTQ2’ to designate the sexual and gender diverse communities in Canada.

7 Gender-neutral tenure clock stopping policies are designed to allow academic staff to pause their tenure clock for a specified period to accommodate family responsibilities.

8 The structural barriers that hindered women’s access to the labour market during COVID-19 included over-representation in some of the economic sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, such as hospitality and healthcare, along with increased childcare responsibilities. COVID-19 containment measures also affected the provision of long-term care services, including restricting the placement of new residents in residential care, and restrictions in both residential and homecare may have led to an extra care burden on families, and particularly women.

9 The terminology used here matches that used in the research being referenced.

10 Part-time work is defined as employees working less than or equal to 30 paid hours per week.

11 According to recently updated figures (February 2026), the number of companies and institutions that have received equal pay certification is 613 and the total number of employees at the companies and institutions that have obtained equal pay certification is 126,246. However, no data has been found to suggest how this relates to the proportion of all companies that should be registered.

12 The ESAS programme has been led by Rape Crisis Scotland, working together with pilot schools in local authorities and further supported by the University of Glasgow.

13 Perez (2019) cites: Säkerhetsarbetets relevans och effekter - slutrapport från ett femårigt forskningsprogram Anders Hanberger, Britt-Inger Saveman, Per-Olof Bylund, Ulf Lundström, Gunilla Mårald och Ewa Rolfsman

14 Number of prisoners in custody in England and Wales from 1900 to 2024, by gender, Statista

15 Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2024-25, The Scottish Government