Codebook Table of Contents

Current to September 2009

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Part I. Multivariate Scales Produced from WomanStats Data

A. Multivariate Scale #1 (Physical Security of Women)

B. Multivariate Scale #2 (Discrepancy Between Law and Practice Concerning Women)

C. Multivariate Scale #3 (Inequity in Family Law Between Men and Women)

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Part II. WomanStats Data

A. Women’s Physical Security

         i. Health (See also Maternal and Infant Mortality and other health indicators for maternity in Section F)

                  a. Differential Access to Health Care Based on Gender (DACH)

                  b. Infibulation/FGM/Other Mutilations (INFIB)

                  c. Caloric Intake (CIWM)

                  d. Issues with STDs (ISTD)

                  e. Issues with Married Women and STDs (IMSTD)

                  f. Mental Illness and Substance Abuse (MISA)

                  g. Potentially Harmful Beauty Practices (PHBP)

         ii.  Violence (See Section E.ii for Domestic Violence and Female Infanticide)

                  a. Rape and Sexual Assault (LRW)

                  b. Familial Sexual Assault: Marital Rape/Incest (LRCM)

                  c.  Suicide Rates of Women of Childbearing Age (15-44) (SUICIDE)

                  d. Murder/Attack Rates; Women of Childbearing Age (15-44) (MURDER)

                  e. Sex Trafficking of Females and Related Practices (TRAFF)

                  f. Labor/Domestic Servant Trafficking/Migration (LDS)

B. Women’s Economic Security

         i. Employment Restrictions Based on Gender (ERBG)

         ii. Single mothers’ economic status (SMES)

         iii.  Mothers' Unpaid Labor Value (MULV)

         iv. Caring Unpaid Labor (CL)

         v. Breakout of daily labor hours (DLB)

         vi. Urban/rural concentration of women/patterns of migration (CWC)

C. Women’s Legal Security

         i. Citizenship Laws (CLCW)

         ii. Citizenship Laws Concerning Children (CLCC)

         iii. Land Ownership and Property Rights (LO)

         iv. Legal Barriers to Holding Office (LBHO laws)

         v. Voting Rights (VOTE)

D. Women’s Security in the Community

         i. Issues Regarding Prostitution (IRP)

         ii. Pornography (PRN)

         iii. Required Dress Codes for Women (RCDW)

         iv. Segregation of menstruating/postpartum women (SMPP)

         v. Intermingling of sexes in public (IIP)

         vi. Societal Engagement with Gender Issues (SEGI)

         vii. Gender Development Index (GDI) (GDI)

         viii. Women and the Media (WAM)

E. Women’s Security in the Family

         i. Family Law/Practice

                  a. Marriage (MARR)

                  b.  Age of Marriage (AOM)

                  c. Widow Remarriage (WR)

                  d. Inheriting Wives (IW)

                  e. Access to Divorce (ATDW)

                  f. Access to Divorce Concerning Mothers (ADCM)

                  g. Custody of Children (CUST)

                  h. Inheritance as Wife (IAW)

                  i.  Inheritance as Daughter (IAD)

                  j. Double Standards of Marital Fidelity (DSFMF)

         ii. Violence in the Family

                  a. Domestic Violence (DV)

                  b. Female Infanticide/Sex-Selective Abortion (ISSA)

         iii. Family and Society

                  a. Attitudes towards Families (ATFPA)

                  b. Children Born to/Raised by Married Couples (CBMC)

c. Definitions of Manhood and Womanhood (DMW)

         iv.  Polygyny

                  a.  Polygyny (PW)

                  b. Polygyny concerning mothers (POLY)

F. Security for Maternity

         i. Care Received During Pregnancy/Labor/Post-Partum (CRPLB)

         ii. Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR)

         iii. Infant Mortality Rate (IM)

         iv. Mother’s Age at Birth of First Child (MABFC)

         v. Percentage of Pregnant Women with Anemia (PPWA)

         vi. Birth Rate (BR)

         vii. Government Intervention in Childbearing (GIC)

         viii. Forced Sterilization or Childbearing (FSCB)

         ix. Abortion (ABO)

         x. Social Acceptance of Breastfeeding (SAB)

G. Women’s Security Through Voice

         i. Holding Legal Office (LBHO, practice and data)

         ii. Government Positions (GP)

         iii. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) (GEM)

H. Security Through Community Investment in Women

         i. Literacy Rates (LR)

         ii. Women’s Access to Formal Education (AFE)

         iii. Area of Study Restrictions (ASR)

         iv. NGOs Focused on Women (NGOFW)

v. Sports, Recreational Activities, and Continuing Education (SRACE)

I. Women’s Security in the State

         i. Accession to CEDAW and Reservations (ATC)

         ii. Asylum for Women (AW)

         iii. Government/Subnational Group Exploitation of Women (GEW)

         iv. Exemption of women from combat/military service (EWCMS)

         v. Exemption of mothers from combat/military service (EMCMS)

         vi. Differential Treatment Under Law (DTCP)

         vii. Recent Changes in Status of Women (RISW)

         viii. Constitutional Law (CONST)

J. Additional Data (ADDL)

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Codebook

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Part I: Multivariate Scales Produced from WomanStats Data

A. Multivariate Scale #1 (Physical Security of Women) MULTIVAR-SCALE-1: Originally coded February 2007 (look for updates in database); Professor Mary Caprioli's Physical Security of Women Scale. WomanStats variables examined include DV (Law 1, Practice 1 and 2, Data 1 (Domestic Violence), LRW (Law 1, Practice 1 and 2, Data 1 (Rape and Sexual Assault), LRCM (Law 2, Practice 1 and 3, Data 1 (Marital Rape), MURDER (Data 1).

0 – There are laws against domestic violence, rape, and marital rape; these laws are enforced; there are no taboos or norms against reporting these crimes, which are rare.  There are no honor killings.

1 - There are laws against domestic violence, rape, and marital rape; these laws are generally enforced; there are taboos or norms against reporting these crimes (or ignorance that these are reportable crimes), which crimes are not common.  Honor killings do not occur.

2 - There are laws against domestic violence, rape, and marital rape; these laws are sporadically enforced; there are taboos or norms against reporting these crimes (or ignorance that these are reportable crimes), which are common.  Honor killings do not occur.

3 – There are laws against domestic violence, rape, but not necessarily marital rape; these laws are rarely enforced; there are taboos or norms against reporting these crimes (or ignorance that these are reportable crimes), which affect a majority of women.  Honor killings may occur among certain segments of society but is not generally accepted.

4 – There are no or weak laws against domestic violence, rape, and marital rape, and these laws are not generally enforced.  Honor killings may occur and are either ignored or generally accepted.  (Examples of weak laws—need 4 male witnesses to prove rape, rape is only defined as sex with girls under 12—all other sex is by definition consensual, etc.)

A few coding rules:

B. Multivariate Scale #2 (Discrepancy Between Law and Practice Concerning Women) MULTIVAR-SCALE-2: Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Valerie Hudson's Scale of the Degree of Discrepancy Between Law and Practice on Issues Concerning Women in Society. This scale has three sub-clusters: Physical Security/Bodily Integrity, which examines WomanStats variables INFIB (Practice 1, Law 1, Data 1 (Infibulation)), LRW (Practice 1, Law 1, Data 1 (Rape and Sexual Assault)); LRCM (Practice 1, Law 2, Data 1(Marital Rape)), DV (Practice 1, Law 1, Data 1 (Domestic Violence)), TRAFF (Practice 1, Law 1, Data 1 (Trafficking)), and which sub-cluster is weighted by three. The second sub-cluster is Education, which examines WomanStats variables AFE (Practice 1, Law 1, Data 1 (Access to Formal Education), ASR (Practice 1 and Law 1 (Area of Study Restrictions), and is unweighted. The third sub-cluster is Family Freedom, which examines WomanStats variables AOM (Practice 1, Law 1, Data 1 (Age at First Marriage)), ATDW (Practice 2, Law 5 (Access to Divorce)), and MARR (Practice 1 and Law 1 (Volition in Marriage)), and is weighted by two.

Scale points:

Missing Data (there are a few countries which did not have enough data to scale)

0  The laws are consonant with CEDAW and are well enforced by the government; such enforcement is a high priority of the government.

1 The laws are consonant with CEDAW; these are mostly enforced, and the government appears to be fairly proactive in challenging cultural norms which harm women.

2 The laws are consonant with CEDAW, but there is spotty enforcement; the government may or may not signal its interest in challenging cultural norms harmful to women.

3 Laws are for the most part consonant with CEDAW, with little effective enforcement; improving the situation of women appears to be a low priority for the government.

4 There is virtually no enforcement of laws consonant with CEDAW, or such laws do not even exist .

C. Multivariate Scale #3 (Inequity in Family Law between Men and Women) MULTIVAR-SCALE-3: Inequity in Family Law Scale.  This scale, developed by Professor Rose McDermott at the University of California-Santa Barbara, seeks to capture how inequitably family law is conceptualized according to gender.  Intercoder reliability for this coding round (for information in the database as of July 2007) was 85%. 

The following variables are examined in the coding of this scale.

LRCM (Marital Rape) Practice 1; Data 1; Law 2;; AOM (Age at First Marriage) Practice 1; Law 1; Data 1;; MARR (Marriage) Practice 1; Law 1;; PW (Polygyny) Law 1;; ABO (Abortion) Law 1;; ATDW (Attitude Towards Divorce)--all available information;; IAW (Inheritance as Wife) Practice 1; Practice 2; Law 1.

Notes on Variable Selection for Scale:

Coding protocol:

  1. Where there is a discrepancy between law and practice, lean toward actual practice in the coding.
  2. When in doubt, err on the side of caution, being more conservative in scoring to take account of women in inequitable circumstances. Conservative means higher scores (3 as opposed to 2). To take account of women in inequitable circumstances refers to the fact that we wanted to take account of women who live in enclaves where their treatment might be worse than the in the dominant society, but as a percentage of the overall population they may only be a less than significant minority.
  3. Each component of the scale (ABO, PW) is scored independently, and then the arithmetic average is taken as the total score.  Where that average falls in the middle, divorce and abortion law are weighed more heavily
  4. Do not score a component element that either does not have sufficient information or whose information relies on singles cases, although it is fine to use information that discusses commonalities within specific regions or denominations within a country.

Description of Scale Points:


0 Legal age of marriage is at least 18, and most (>50%) marry over that age. Marriages younger than 16 are virtually unheard of.  Polygyny is illegal and extremely rare.  Women are free to choose their spouse. Women know their rights to consent and divorce and are free to exercise those rights without fear of reprisal. Marital rape is illegal and actively prosecuted. Women and men have equal rights to divorce. Woman can inherit property upon the death of a parent or upon divorce. Abortion is safe and legal. 

1. Legal age of marriage is 16 or higher and most (over 50%) marry over age 16.  Polygyny is illegal and uncommon.  Women are free to choose their spouse. Women know their rights to consent and divorce and are free to exercise those rights without fear of reprisal.  Marital rape is illegal. Women and men have equal rights to divorce. Woman can inherit property, but laws tend to favor men in property rights, including asset division after divorce. Abortion is legal (although may not be available on demand (for the asking).

2. Legal age of marriage is 16 or higher, but girls marrying younger are common (up to 25%).   There is often an age difference between the legal age of marriage for men and women, such that girls are allowed to marry at younger ages than males. Polygyny is legal but unusual (<5% of women).  Girls may not have full rights to choose their spouse. Women may or may not know their rights to consent and divorce. Marital rape may be illegal, but is not prosecuted and practice often allows it. Generally speaking, the grounds for divorce for men and women are the same, although there may be exceptions (i.e., exempting infidelity on the part of the male, or infertility on the part of the female).  Divorce laws systematically favor men, and women do not have equal rights in child custody matters.  Abortions may be restricted, but there are many reasons for permission to be given, including financial reasons.


3. Legal age of marriage is 15 or lower, but girls marrying younger are common ( between 25-50%).   Age discrepancies in the average age of men and women getting married is often greater than 7 years or more,with women often averaging less than 15 years old at time of marriage.  Polygyny is legal and not uncommon (>5% but less than 25% of women).  Girls often cannot chose their spouse. Although obstacles exist that force women to meet a higher standard of justification than men, women can seek divorce but are generally unaware of that right. Women in certain areas of in certain ethnic or religious groups may either be unaware of their rights to consent in marriage and to divorce, or may fear reprisals if they exercise those rights; such rights may be very limited. Marital rape is not acknowledged in law. Divorce laws systematically favor men, and women do not have equal rights in child custody matters, or in inheritance law.  Abortions are severely restricted to cases where the life of the mother is at risk, possibly also rape and incest.

4. Legal age of marriage does not exist or allows girls younger than 12 to marry. Girls
commonly (more than 25%) marry around the age of 12 or even before puberty.  Women are rarely asked for consent before marriage, and women are often forced to marry much older men in this way.  Polygyny is legal and common (>25%). Women must overcome tremendous legal obstacles to sue for divorce, while men can seek divorce for many reasons. Women may be unaware of their right to give consent in marriage or to divorce their husbands, may not legally possess such rights, or may feel that the exercise of those rights would bring dire physical or social consequences. Women are not awarded custody or inheritance. Marital rape is not illegal. Abortions are illegal. 

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Part II: WomanStats Data

A.  Women’s Physical Security

i. Health (See also Security for Maternity section, and portions of the Family Law section for additional variables that may be relevant to health)

a. Differential Access to Health Care Based on Gender

DACH PRACTICE 1: Are women restricted from full access to health care because of their gender? [For example, does the doctor have to be a woman? Do husbands ever have to OK procedures?  Is there a lack of doctors specializing in gynecological/obstetrical care?]  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?  On the other hand, does the government have special programs targeting health for women, or do they sponsor education programs specifically for women about their health?  What percentage of doctors are women? (This last might also be found in Area of Study Restrictions.)

DACH PRACTICE 2: Do women have access to contraceptives? Explain degree of access, types of contraception, obstacles to access, etc. [This doesn’t mean that women necessarily use contraceptives; access is what we are looking for here. Also include information on emergency contraceptives.]

DACH PRACTICE 3:  Are there differences in how disabled men and disabled women are treated?

DACH LAW 1:  Are there laws concerning differential access to health care for men and women (disabled or not)?

DACH DATA 1: What is the life expectancy of women and men?  Mortality/morbidity rates disaggregated by gender?

DACH SCALE 1: Numerical life expectancy figures for women only.

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b. Infibulation / FGM/Other Mutilation

INFIB PRACTICE 1: What is the attitude toward these practices, and how are laws against them enforced?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?  Are there reasons given for the practice?

INFIB LAW 1: What are the laws regarding these practices?  Also, are there any government policies aimed at mitigating these practices?

INFIB DATA 1: What is the most frequent type of infibulation / FGM practiced, if any?  What other types of practices exist within the society?  Include practices that mutilate female anatomy besides traditional FGM; for example, “breast ironing” in West Africa.

INFIB DATA 2: Among other relevant pieces of information, determine prevalence of these practices based on three categories— (1) frequent or common, (2) occasional (not rare) and regional only, and (3) rare or never.

INFIB SCALE 1: (Female Circumcision Prevalence): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Scale of Female Circumcision Prevalance: Designed to provide a scale for the prevalence of female genital mutilation in a given state.  This data is derived from Womanstats variable Infib Data 2.  Note that this scale differs from that used in the actual database.

0 essentially never

1 rare or limited to particular ethnic minority enclaves

2 11-25% of women have been mutilated

3 26-50% of women have been mutilated

4 more than half of women have been mutilated

INFIB SCALE 2: (Female Circumcision Percentages): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's scale of the percentage of women who have been circumcised: FGM. Designed to provide quantitative data on the percentage of women who have been genitally mutilated in a given state. Note that within any given state there may be regional, religious or ethnic differences in the practice. Where such discrepancies exist, I used the number representative of the group with the greater proportion of the population, but greater or lesser percentages may exist among other groups in a society. (Based on WomanStats variable INFIB DATA 2.)

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c. Calorie Intake/BMI of Women vs. Men

CIWM PRACTICE 1: Is there a difference in gender-normed caloric consumption or BMI between men and women in society, and if so, does it indicate a preference towards men or wormen?

CIWM DATA 1: How many calories do females consume compared to males? Compare BMI of men and women in society?  (These will have to be gender-normed for comparison purposes.)

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d. Issues with STD

ISTD Practice 1: What is the awareness level of women vs. men in regards to AIDS or  STDs?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in AIDS acquisition? What incentives or impediments to AIDS/STD treatment access (including access to drugs) exist, and what societal norms or governmental policies influence this access? Is access influenced by gender?

ISTD DATA 1: What percentage of women have AIDS/STDs? You can also include information about most prevalent STDs here.   What is the percentage of Women with AIDS and total AIDS prevalence?  Compare to figures for men.

ISTD DATA 2: What is the trajectory of the AIDS/STDs in the subpopulation of women and how does this compare to the over all trajectory?

ISTD DATA 3: What is the overall rate of AIDS/STDs in the country?

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e. Issues with Married women and STDs

IMSTD PRACTICE 1: Can a women refuse sex to her husband or require that he wear a condom? The idea is, can a wife protect herself from her husband whom she may suspect of infidelity and therefore is at higher risk to carry an STD?

IMSTD DATA 1: What percentage of married women have AIDS/STDs?   Compare to men. (See also ISTD-DATA-1.)

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f. Mental Illness and Substance Abuse (Note: This cluster of variables was added in 2008, and therefore its codiing lags behind that of other variables in the database.)

MISA PRACTICE 1: Are there differences in the incidence of mental illness between men and women in society? Are there differences in treatment or medication of mentally ill men compared to mentally ill women? Do not overlook postpartum depression here. Also, are PMS and/or other gynecological disorders considered mental illnesses?

MISA PRACTICE 2 : Are there differences in the incidence of substance abuse between men and women? (These can be legal or illegal substances which may be abused.) Are men more or less likely to abuse certain substances than women? Are theere social norms for tolerance of substance abuse by men as compared to women, or vice versa?

MISA DATA 1: Place here any quantitative data on the incidence of mental illness diaggregated by gender. Do not overlook postpartum depression here.

MISA DATA 2 : Place here any quantitative data on the incidence of substance abuse disaggregated by gender.

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g. Potentially Harmful Beauty Practices (Note: This cluster of variables was added in 2008, and therefore its codiing lags behind that of other variables in the database.)

PHBP PRACTICE 1: Describe beauty customs that may affect the health and wellbeing of women. Discuss the level of social pressure to adhere to these customs. (Do not put infibulation/female circumcision here; we are not discussing purity practices in this variable, but rather beauty practices.) You can include discussion of eating disorders here if they are linked to societal norms of beautiful weight.

PHBP PRACTICE 2 : Discuss government or NGO initiatives and support for women who do not conform or wish to cease conforming to these harmful beauty practices.

PHBP LAW 1 : Does the government outlaw or sanction or regulate potentially harmful beauty practices?

PHBP DATA 1: Place here any quantitative data on incidence of particular beauty practices that may be potentially harmful to women.

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ii.  Violence (See Section E.ii for Domestic Violence and Female Infanticide)

a. Laws on Rape and Sexual Assault

LRW PRACTICE 1: Are laws against rape enforced? [Include conviction and incarceration rates.]

LRW PRACTICE 2: Are there taboos against reporting rape? [Include elements that work to fight against those taboos, such as women’s shelters, hotlines, etc.]

LRW PRACTICE 3: Can a woman be killed (i.e., honor killings) or otherwise punished if she is raped – even if she is obviously innocent?

LRW LAW 1: Are there laws against rape?  Is there a law against statutory rape, and what is the age of consent cut-off for statutory rape?

LRW LAW 2: What are the punishments and how is fault decided?

LRW LAW 3: Who can be a legal witness [e.g., must the witness be a male?] and does the woman’s testimony count?  Consider other factors, such as whether the court looks at the woman’s sexual history or dress, etc.

LRW DATA 1: How prevalent is rape? [Look for incidence, qualitative, or quantitative information.]

LRW SCALE 1: (SEXUAL ASSAULT): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Scale on Sexual Assault: Designed to provide quantitative data on the percentage of women who have been victimized by sexual assault.  This is often from an in house study and so it is likely an underreport of actual incidence because many women may not be aware or admit to such practices, especially if their perpetrator is present at the interview.  Most often this question asks about all forms of sexual assault, and thus often encompasses sexual assaults that fall short of technical rape.  This data was derived from Womanstats variable LRW Data 1.

LRW SCALE 2 (RAPE INCIDENCE): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database; there is, for example, and April 2008 update). Professor Rose McDermott's Rape Scale: Designed to provide quantitative data on the number of rapes per 100,000 population.  Where discrepancies existed in the data, I used the most recent data. Most of this data is from Interpol, although some figures are from the UN. Please compare these numbers across states with caution, because there is often severe under-reporting, especially in areas where associated stigma is great. This data was derived from Womanstats variable LRW Data 1.

LRW SCALE 3 (RAPE CONVICTIONS): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Rape Conviction Scale: Designed to provide quantitative data on the rate of convictions for rape per 1,000 population. This data was derived from Womanstats variable LRW Data 1.

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b. Familial Sexual Assault: Marital Rape/Incest

LRCM PRACTICE 1: Are laws against marital rape enforced? [include conviction and incarceration rates.]

LRCM PRACTICE 2 : Are laws against incest enforced? [include conviction and incarceration rates.]

LRCM LAW 1: Is rape sufficient grounds for divorce? [This includes two questions—(1) if a woman is raped by another man, can her husband divorce her on those grounds? and (2) if a wife is raped by her husband, does she have the right to divorce him?

LRCM LAW 2: Are there laws against marital rape?

LRCM LAW 3 : Are there laws against incest?

LRCM DATA 1: How prevalent is marital rape? [Look for incidence, qualitative, or quantitative data.]

LRCM DATA 2 : How prevalent is incest? [Look for incidence, qualitative, or quantitative data.]

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c. Suicide Rates of Women of Childbearing Age (15-44)

SUICIDE PRACTICE 1: Are there indications that suicide is a common social response by women to domestic violence? Are there indications that women may be forced to commit suicide by relatives under the guise of "honor suicide" to avoid laws on "honor killings"?

SUICIDE DATA 1: What is the percentage of women in this age group who commit suicide?  Percentage of women overall?  Compared to men in that age group or overall?

SUICIDE SCALE 1: Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Suicide Scale: Designed to code the prevalence of female suicide in a given state.  Note that women often attempt suicide much more than men, but are typically less successful because they tend to use less lethal means (pills vs. guns).  This scale related to completed suicides, not attempts.  Some data on relative attempt rates exists in the data on a state by state basis and is not reflected in this scale.  It is extremely unusual for women to commit suicide more often than men.  This data was derived from Womanstats variable Suicide Data 1.

0 more male suicide, or no differential sex breakdown but overall level less than 10/100,000

1 noted risk for female suicide as a result of abusive relationships, including forced suicide at the hands of a husband’s relatives, and/or no gender breakdown but overall level greater than 11/100,000

2 widespread forcing of women to commit suicide for honor reasons, or as a result of abusive relationships and overall level of female suicide greater than 11/100,000

3 extremely unusual situation of more female than male suicide

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d. Murder/Attack Rates of Women of Childbearing Age (15-44) (See LRCM for marital rape and incest. See SUICIDE for suicide. See DV for domestic violence. See LRW for rape and sexual assault.)

MURDER PRACTICE 1:  Are there socially acceptable reasons for attacking and murdering a woman, e.g., witchcraft, elopement, suspicion of promiscuity, infidelity, rape, etc.?  Does the practice of honor killings exist within the society?  Do these differ in comparison to murder of men? Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

MURDER PRACTICE 2: Are there other common social practices that could result in the deaths or injury of women?  For example, are acid attacks an issue in this nation?  What about dowry deaths?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

MURDER LAW 1: Are there laws that provide for special penalties in cases where women have been attacked or killed as a result of acid attack or dowry murder or honor killings (or related phenomena)?

MURDER DATA 1: What is the percentage of women in this age group who are murdered? Also include aggregated data if that is all that is available.  Compare to male rates.  Take overall rates if there isn’t age-specific data.  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

MURDER DATA 2: Are there any figures on specific kinds of female deaths, such as dowry deaths or deaths from acid attacks or honor killings?  What about rates of injury from such practices?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

MURDER SCALE 1: (Ordinal Murder Scale): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Murder scale:  Designed to code the prevalence of murder of women in a given state. This data was derived from Womanstats variable Murder Data 1

0 more men than women murdered, or no information on gender differences in murder despite absolute murder rates being given or available

1 some evidence of higher rates for female death, especially as a result of domestic violence

2 real evidence of femicide

MURDER SCALE 2: (HONOR KILLINGS): Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Honor Killings Scale: Designed to code the prevalence of honor killings of women in a given state. This can happen at the hands of the woman’s own relatives, or her husband’s relatives.  This scale is derived from Womanstats variable LRW Practice 3.

0 it does not appear to be a problem

1 it is often a problem, for example a women may be forced to marry her rapist, or men who commit honor killings receive reduced or eliminated sentences

2 it is a common problem with little legal consequences for the perpetrator. For example, it may be coded in law that killing a wife who has been suspected of infidelity is not punishable by law.

MURDER SCALE 3: (Ratio Murder Scale): Originally coded April 2008 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Ratio Murder Scale: This scale examines murder rate per 100,000 for women and for men, allowing a ratio comparison of the two rates.

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e. Sex Trafficking of Females and Related Practices (See also Prostitution in Section D– Security in the Community)

TRAFF PRACTICE 1: Are the laws against trafficking enforced? Are there policies or programs to prevent trafficking? What reintegration policies does the government implement to assist women removed from trafficking so they will be less likely to become a victim again? [Include institutions / resources available to combat trafficking. Don’t include specific case studies; instead, summarize them—e.g. “we have seen some convictions in the data.”]  Remember to try and distinguish trafficking from domestic prostitution, which is dealt with in Section D-Security in the Community. 

TRAFF PRACTICE 2: What are the practices exactly? [These could include information regarding brides, prostitutes, ages targeted, presence or lack of deception.  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?] Include information on domestic wife renting.

TRAFF PRACTICE 3: Are victims deported or otherwise punished? Also see variable on Asylum for Women.

TRAFF LAW 1: Are there laws against the trafficking of people—especially women and children? [Include laws that aren’t specifically designed to stop trafficking, but that still apply—e.g. kidnapping, prostitution, etc.]  What are the punishments?  Are there legal barriers—such as certain types of proof or witnesses needed?

TRAFF LAW 2: Are there laws against the nation’s citizens engaging in trafficking or using sex slaves in other countries?

TRAFF LAW 3: Is there governmental support for trafficked women, such as third party hosting of trafficked women who cannot be repatriated?  Is asylum available to victims of trafficking?

TRAFF DATA 1: What is the prevalence of trafficking?  Try to distinguish between sex trafficking and domestic prostitution, which is dealt with in Section D-Security in the Community.

TRAFF SCALE 1: Originally coded January 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Valerie Hudson's Scale of Trafficking, based on all WomanStats TRAFF variables (practice, law data). General notes to coders: 

a) Remember to keep prostitution and trafficking separate in your mind!

b) Where there has been a war/invasion, and all of our data is from before that event, do not code the country.

c)  In general, you are looking at Tier ranking, practice, law, enforcement, and data.  You must have information on at least 2 of these to give a scoring.  If you do not have at least 2 of these, do not score the country.

d) Do not rely on information that is not in the database, and do not compare countries as you are ranking them, e.g., “I think Iran is worse than Jordan, so I will score it higher.”

  1. There are laws against trafficking in the country and into or from other countries. These laws are enforced. The country is in full compliance (ranking of 1) with the Trafficking Persons act of 2000.  Trafficking appears to be rare.  You cannot move from a Tier 2 ranking to a Tier 1 ranking over consecutive State Department reports and be scored as a 0 immediately after the assignment of the Tier 1 ranking.  Some time must elapse to see how the situation evolves, and so the country should be coded as a 1.
  2.  There are laws against trafficking in the country and into or from other countries. These laws are enforced, but either enforcement is becoming more lax over time or reports of significant trafficking undetected by authorities is increasing.  In other words, though a Tier 1 country, there appear to be growing problems. The country is in full compliance (ranking of 1) with the Trafficking Persons act of 2000.  For countries in which prostitution is legal, the country can still be scored as a 1 if they have taken strong measures to insure that the prostitution is not entangled with trafficking.
  3. There are laws against trafficking in the country.  (If the country only has laws about prostitution, slavery, etc., but no laws against trafficking per se, they cannot be coded as a 2.) These laws are not always enforced. The country is in non compliance (ranking of 2) with the Trafficking Persons act of 2000 but efforts are being made to comply.
  4. There are limited laws against trafficking in the country. The country is in non compliance (ranking of 2) with the Trafficking Persons act of 2000 and only limited/marginal efforts are not being made to comply.
  5. There are no laws against trafficking in the country, or from or into the country. The country is not in compliance (ranking of 3) with the Trafficking Persons act of 2000.  Victims are not supported in any way.  The government may even benefit from and therefore facilitate trafficking.

________________________________________________________________

f. Labor/Domestic Servant Trafficking/Migration

LDS PRACTICE 1: Is this country either a significant provider or consumer of migrant female labor, particularly for jobs such as domestic servant, nanny, etc.?  Are there certain countries from which the migrant female labor comes, or to which the migrant female labor goes?

LDS PRACTICE 2:  What problems concerning female migrant labor have been reported, such as abuse or exploitation?  If there are laws protecting such women, what is the level of enforcement of these laws?

LDS LAW 1:  Does the government provide any protection or education for women in such potentially vulnerable circumstances?

LDS DATA 1:  What is the prevalence of female migrant labor in this economy?

___________________________________________________

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B. Women’s Economic Security

i. Employment Restrictions Based on Gender

ERBG PRACTICE 1: In practice, are women kept out of certain areas of employment based on their gender? Do forced retirement or restrictions on night-time or other types of work exist? (Be sure to note general tendencies of one gender predominating in a profession. Note gender polarizations, e.g., where either women make up about 1% or less, or 99% or more, of an economic sector.) Are there other practices that discriminate on gender, such as forced retirement at different ages, or bans on female labor at night or in certain occupations? Look for sexual harassment practices here.  On the other hand, does the government have programs in place to train specifically women for non-traditional employment? Does women's participation or lack of participation in labor unions affect employment practices concerning women?

ERBG PRACTICE 2: (E.g., World Values Survey #78.) Does the society hold the general attitude that men have more right to jobs than women?  [Add any other relevant data such as differences in unemployment rates.]

ERBG PRACTICE 3: Are there customary hiring discrepancies based on gender? [Include whether women can advance within a company. For example, are promotions based on seniority instead of skill, which would put women at a disadvantage?]

ERBG LAW 1: Are women legally kept out of certain arenas of employment based on their gender? [For example, does forced retirement policies for women, or restrictions on night-time or other work for women exist?]

ERBG LAW 2: Are there legal hiring discrepancies based on gender?  Are there laws against sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace?

ERBG DATA 1: Is there an earning gap between men and women in comparable professions, especially those of high status? [High status professions might include professors, managers, doctors, lawyers, etc.]

ERBG DATA 2: What is the percentage of women in the workforce?  What percent of the economically active female population is unemployed?  Provide comparison figures for men. What percentage of top management positions are held by women?

ERBG DATA 3: What percentage of the work force is married - disaggregate by gender. We are looking to see if there is a drop in employment at marriage and/or if there is a drop when the first child is born.

ERBG DATA 4: What percent of active workers are engaged in full time vs. part time work - disaggregate by sex.

ERBG DATA 5: Include information here on women's participation in the informal economy. Are women excluded from normal markets due to cultural bias or gender concerns, but find a means to sell goods, services etc. outside the normal market constraints?

___________________________________________________

ii. Single Mother Economic Status (This indicator will include widows, divorced mothers and non-married mothers)

SMES DATA 1: What is the percentage of single-mothers in poverty?  As compared to other types of households, including single fathers?

SMES DATA 2: What is the economic situation of female-headed households?  As compared to other types of households?

SMES DATA 3: What is the percentage of female headed households?  As compared to other types of households? Also include comparison of single mother household prevalence to single father household prevalence.

___________________________________________________________________

iii. Mother’s Unpaid Labor Value

MULV PRACTICE 1: E.g., World Values Survey #116: "Is choosing to be a housewife fulfilling?" What would societal attitudes be concerning whether choosing to be a housewife is seen as fulfilling or not? Also, we want to know if societal attitudes suggest that being a mother is viewed as fulfilling.

MULV LAW 1: Does the state provide benefits [such as retirement] for those who stay out of the formal labor force to care for children?

MULV DATA 1: What is the estimated economic value of unpaid work in the nation (preferably disaggregated by gender, and expressed in monetary terms as well as a percentage of GDP), and what methodology was used for that estimation? What percentage of women are economically inactive in the formal economy? [These are women who, for whatever reason, have chosen not to participate in the traditional workforce outside of the home.  Compare to men.] Do women drop out of the labor force at marriage or birth of a child or not at all?

________________________________________________________________

iv. Caring Unpaid Labor

CL PRACTICE 1: Does the society expect specifically women to perform unpaid volunteer work or caring labor in order for the society to function well? (See also MULV DATA 1).

CL LAW 1: Does the government give benefits to unpaid caretakers of the elderly and handicapped? [These would be women/men who stay at home to care—not institutions receiving government money. Benefits could include tax credits, etc.]

____________________________________________________________

v. Daily Labor Breakout

DLB Data 1: How much time (and on what activities) does a women spend completing her required daily duties as compared to a man? This includes jobs in the public and private sphere as well as all responsibilities relating to the home. Please also characterize how rigid the gender division of labor is in this society.

_____________________________________________________

vi. Urban/Rural Concentration of Women/Patterns of Migration (See Also Trafficking Issues in Section A, part ii.)

CWC  Data 1:What percentage of women are located in Urban areas vs. the Rural areas of the country?  Compare to men.

CWC  Data 2: What concerns are noted about high concentration in either location. For example many women in rural areas might not have access to health services, whereas high concentrations of women in cities may depress the job market making even useful skills underpaid.

CWC Data 3: Does the nation have a significant influx of refugees?  From where?  Are there special issues concerning female refugees?

CWC Data 4: Does the nation have a significant influx of migrants?  From where?  Are there special issues concerning female migrants, such as suspicions of trafficking, FGM, polygyny, etc. among this population?

____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

C. Women’s Legal Security

i. Citizenship Laws

CLCW PRACTICE 1: What are the practices surrounding women’s citizenship? [This could include related issues such as the need for male permission to travel abroad, etc.] Be sure to include any definitions of citizenship. Does the state only recognize the family and/or the head of the family as the legitimate unit of interaction between the state and its subjects? We are looking for how a woman might not have full access to state institutions due to citizenship laws themselves, e.g., unable to use ration cards because they are not the head of the household.  How does this compare to practices concerning men?

CLCW LAW 1: Do women forfeit citizenship if they marry outside of their nationality?   Men?

CLCW LAW 2: Are women allowed to hold passports and travel?  Men?

______________________________________________

ii. Citizenship Laws Concerning Children

CLCC LAW 1: In dual citizenship marriages or liaisons, how is children’s citizenship decided, and how does this decision affect their status and rights? [For example, do laws favor father’s citizenship? Or do they deny the father’s citizenship to the children, thereby cutting the children off from the benefits of being citizens of the country they inhabit?]

_____________________________________________

iii. Land Ownership and Property Rights

LO PRACTICE 1: Are credit, businesses, property, etc. customarily withheld from women, even if they are legally entitled to it? [Include whether credit is withheld from women due to lack of assets. Also include whether a woman’s husband must sign for her to obtain credit, businesses, property, etc.]  Compare to men.  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

LO LAW 1: Do women have legal access to land, loans, credit, and business ownership?  Comparison to men?

LO DATA 1: Look for the presence of NGOs oriented to female entrepreneurship. 

LO DATA 2: How long have women-oriented NGO’s been in the country?

___________________________________________

iv. Legal Barriers to Holding Office  (See also Section G-Women’s Security Through Voice)

LBHO LAW 1: Are there legal barriers against women holding office?  Men?

LBHO LAW 2: Are there incentives or quotas for women office holders and candidates?

____________________________________________

v. Voting Rights

VOTE PRACTICE 1: Are there practices or customs that keep women from exercising a legal right to vote? Look for barriers such as travel, illiteracy, fees, etc., in addition to problems with husbands or general cultural bias. Compare these to barriers for men.

VOTE LAW 1: Do women have the legal right to vote? Do men? How do rights for men and women compare?

VOTE DATA 1: What is the suffrage age for men and women?

VOTE DATA 2: What is the percentage of eligible men and women that exercise their right to vote?

__________________________________

___________________________________

D. Women’s Security in the Community

i. Issues regarding Prostitution  (See also Trafficking Issues in Section A, part ii.) 

IRP PRACTICE 1: (E.g., World Values Survey #209.) What are societal attitudes towards prostitution? [Include relevant data here from other sources too.] We are looking for the degree of acceptance of prostitution in the society. Also, is there any reason a woman would want to be a prostitute, i.e. this may be one of the few ways widows or divorcees can get by in society, etc.   You can include other practice-related information, such as prevalence, regional/ethnic/tribal differences, etc.

IRP PRACTICE 2: If the women are from different countries, are victims deported? (See also Trafficking variable.)

IRP PRACTICE 3: In practice, can a woman prostitute require that a man wear a condom?

IRP LAW 1: Is prostitution illegal?  Are punishments focused on the pimp vs. the women/victim?

IRP LAW 2: Is asylum granted to women who have been exploited through trafficking and prostitution? (See also Trafficking variable.)

IRP LAW 3: By law can a prostitute require a man to wear a condom? Are there laws that require testing of prostitutes for communicable diseases?

IRP LAW 4: Does the government facilitate prostitution through legalization, through taxing prostitution or related services, or through providing special visas for sex-related industries like exotic dancing?

IRP LAW 5: If prostitution is legal, are there minimum age laws? 

IRP DATA 1: What ages are common to begin prostitution work?

IRP DATA 2: What is the prevalence of prostitution?

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ii. Pornography

PRN PRACTICE 1: How socially accepted and prevalent is pornography?  How does society define pornography?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in attitudes?  Is there a difference between adult versus child pornography?  How have attitudes/incidence changed over time?

PRN LAW 1: What are the laws regarding pornography? What are the punishments, and how are convictions obtained (e.g., rules of evidence, etc.)?  Is there a difference between adult versus child pornography?

PRN LAW 2: What are the definitions of pornography within the law?

____________________________________________

iii. Required Codes of Dress for Women

RCDW PRACTICE 1: What are the customary dress codes for men and women?

RCDW PRACTICE 2: Are women customarily required to cover their entire faces (though not necessarily their eyes)?

RCDW LAW 1: Are women legally required to abide by certain dress codes?  Are men?

RCDW LAW 2: Are women legally required to cover their entire faces (though not necessarily her eyes)?   Are men?

______________________________________________

iv. Segregation of menstruating and post partum women   (see also Intermingling variable below)

SMPP PRACTICE 1: Are there social or religious customs that require women to seclude themselves from society during menstruation and post partum?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

SMPP LAW 1: Are menstruating or post partum women required to enter into seclusion or are they limited in their activities in any way by law?

SMPP Data 1: How long is the seclusion required and where are the women during seclusion?

______________________________________________

v. Intermingling in Public

IIP PRACTICE 1: Describe purdah (seclusion) practices. [This could include whether a woman needs a male guardian to go outdoors. We’re using purdah here in the broad sense of the word of restrictions on the free movement of women. Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?] Would women be targets of violence if they did not conform to norms regarding intermingling in public? In certain societies, this segregation may be viewed as segregating men away from women, rather than segregating women away from men (for example, men's huts placed far from the women); take that anyway.

IIP LAW 1: Are there any legal restrictions? [For example, is it legal for women to be in, e.g., a cinema, where men might be in attendance also? Is it legal for them to drive? Is it legal for women to perform publically? Must they legally have a male guardian with them for such activities?

__________________________________________________

vi. Societal Engagement with Gender Issues

SEGI PRACTICE 1: Are gender issues a topic of public discourse with society?  Are there topics that are taboo?  Who is speaking out on gender issues in society?  Are there certain prominent government or religious figures involved?

SEGI PRACTICE 2: If a discussion on gender issues occurs within society, how is that discussion received?  Is it dismissed, a cause for anger, etc.?

SEGI PRACTICE 3: Are those who discuss gender issues within society punished by society, by the government, by employers, etc.?  Is the punishment different for women as versus men?

_________________________________________

vii. Gender Development Index

GDI  DATA 1: The GDI Score/Rank; be sure to include date.

______________________________________

viii. Women and the Media (Note: This variable cluster was added in 2008, and therefore its collection lags behind that of the other variables in the database.)

WAM PRACTICE 1: How are women portrayed in various media, including textbooks used in schools? Discuss women's presence in the media and/or the arts? Does the government or NGOs sponsor initiatives to change the portrayal of women in the media and/or the arts?

WAM LAW 1: Are there any laws or government regulations concerning the depiction of women in the media, or the presence of women in the media? Or the arts?

WAM DATA 1: Place here any quantitative data describing the portrayal or presence of women in the media and/or the arts?

WAM DATA 1 : HPlace here any quantitative information on internet access/cell phone usage, etc., of women as compared to men.

______________________________________

_______________________________________

E. Women’s Security in the Family

i.  Family Law/Practice

a. Marriage

MARR PRACTICE 1: In practice, can a woman be forced to marry against her will? [This could include cultural pressure, arranged marriages, capture marriage, etc.] Please include any figures or estimates on the rate of arranged marriages or capture marriages.  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

MARR PRACTICE 2: (E.g., World Values Survey #111) Is marriage seen as outdated within the society?  Even if marriage is not seen as outdated per se, do people even want to/see a need to get married?

MARR PRACTICE 3: (E.g., World Values Survey #112.) Is single parenthood seen as acceptable in the society?

MARR PRACTICE 4: What are the PAC (civil union) / common law marriage practices?  Do same sexes enter into such unions or even formal marriages?

MARR PRACTICE 5: Are bride price and dowries present? [Even if they are illegal, do they happen anyway? How common are they? Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?  Are prices increasing or decreasing over time?]

MARR PRACTICE 6: Are there religious and/or citizenship barriers to marriage? [For example, maybe interfaith marriage or marrying outside one’s nationality is not acceptable.]

MARR LAW 1: Can a woman legally be forced to marry against her will? [This could include arranged marriages, capture marriage, etc.]

MARR LAW 2: What are the PAC (civil union) / common law marriage laws?  Can same sexes enter into such unions or even formal marriages?  Can persons in such unions adopt children?  Can single persons adopt children?

MARR LAW 3: Legally, does the woman remain a minor in marriage?

MARR LAW 4: Are bride price and dowries legal?

MARR DATA 1: What is the percentage of women currently married and the percent of women ever married?  Comparison to men?

MARR DATA 2: What are the cohabitation rates?

_______________________________________

b. Age of Marriage

AOM PRACTICE 1: By custom, how young are girls (and boys) married? What are the youngest ages at which marriage occurs?

AOM LAW 1: What is the legal age of marriage for both women and men?

AOM DATA 1: What is the average age of marriage for both women and men? (Age at first marriage.)

_______________________________________

c. Widow Remarriage

WR PRACTICE 1: What are the practices concerning widow remarriage [Is it necessary?  Is it forbidden? Does a woman have input in the matter?]

WR LAW 1: What are the laws regarding widow remarriage?

_________________________________________

d. Inheriting Wives

IW PRACTICE 1: Are there customary practices that require the inheritance of a wife after a male family member dies? Do women have any choice in the matter?

IW LAW 1: Are there laws that require the inheritance of a wife after a male family member dies? Do women have any choice in the matter?

______________________________________

e. Access to Divorce

ATDW PRACTICE 1: What are the customary practices surrounding divorce? [For example, must dowry or brideprice be returned?]

ATDW PRACTICE 2: Does gender affect one’s ability to obtain a divorce? [For example, is it easier for men to get a divorce than women? In what ways?]

ATDW PRACTICE 3: (E.g., World Values Survey #211.) What are societal attitudes towards divorce?   Does it confer a stigma, and if so, on whom?

ATDW LAW 1: How are assets (including land, home, and money) divided when there are no children?

ATDW LAW 2: After a divorce, does the woman become a minor to another male?

ATDW LAW 3: Can a woman be divorced on the grounds of infertility?

ATDW LAW 4: Can a woman be divorced for bearing only daughters?

ATDW LAW 5: What other legal grounds for divorce are there? Can a woman even initiate a divorce and if so, under what conditions? Are these conditions the same as for men?

ATDW DATA 1: What is the percent of marriages that end in divorce?

___________________________________

f. Access to Divorce Concerning Mothers

ADCM PRACTICE 1: What are the practices concerning alimony and the division of assets when children are involved?

ADCM LAW 1: What are the laws concerning the division of assets for couples with children?

_____________________________________

g. Custody of Children

CUST PRACTICE 1: Are child support requirements enforced? Consider also the situation of illegitimate children and children born from common-law marriages.

CUST LAW 1: Is custody automatically granted? To whom—the husband or wife? What other custody laws are there? What is the situation of illegitimate children and children born from common-law marriages?

CUST LAW 2: Are children denied rights because their parents are divorced?  Or because their parents are not legally married?

CUST LAW 3: Is child support mandatory, and if so, what are the requirements? Consider also the situation of illegitimate children and children born from common-law marriages.

CUST LAW 4:  Are there differences in requirements for adoption of children, based either on the gender of the child or the gender of the adoptive adults?  For example, perhaps a single woman cannot adopt a boy child.

_______________________________________

h. Inheritance as Wife

IAW PRACTICE 1: Do wives customarily have inheritance rights?

IAW LAW 1: Are wives legally able to inherit? [Look for things like a 2:1 inheritance ratio—do sons inherit twice the amount daughters do?  That their mothers do?]

IAW LAW 2: Can a woman inherit property from her husband if she marries again after his death? If she does remarry, does she lose the inheritance?

_________________________________________

i. Inheritance as Daughter

IAD PRACTICE 1: Are daughters customarily able to inherit property, money, and assets from their fathers? [Look for things like a 2:1 inheritance ratio—do sons inherit twice the amount daughters do?] Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice? Is inheritance matrilineal or patrilineal?

IAD LAW 1: Are daughters legally able to inherit property, money, and assets from their fathers? [Look for things like a 2:1 inheritance ratio—do sons inherit twice the amount daughters do?  Comparison to men?] Are daughters legally able to inherit property from their mothers?

_________________________________________

j. Double Standards for Marital Fidelity (See also ‘Issues with STDs’ in Section A, part i.)

DSFMF PRACTICE 1: (E.g., World Values Survey #209.) What are societal attitudes towards prostitution?  (See also Prostitution variable.)

DSFMF PRACTICE 2: Are there cultural double standards about fidelity?

DSFMF PRACTICE 3: If there are laws against adultery or fornication, are the laws gender specific in terms of whom is prosecutes, or in terms of punishments, or in terms of enforcement of the law?

DSFMF PRACTICE 4: Does the society place a profound value on the chastity of female relatives? (Is honor of the family tied into chastity of female relatives?  Are insults impugning the chastity of female relatives more serious?  Do families or individuals undertake measures such as hymenoplasty in order to conform to standards of virginity? Are "virginity tests" given? Etc.)

DSFMF LAW 1: Are there laws against adultery, and if so are they gender specific?

DSFMF DATA 1: What percentage of married women have AIDS? Percentage of women with AIDS and total AIDS prevalence.  [You can also include information about STDs here; please also see Issues with STDs variable.]

____________________________________

____________________________________

ii.  Violence in the Family  (See also Section A for more indicators of violence)

a. Domestic Violence (Note: Domestic violence includes not only violence between partners, but also violence directed toward children in the household (child abuse) See MURDER cluster for honor killings and dowry deaths and attacks on women. See SUICIDE for suicide, including honor suicides. See LRCM for marital rape and incest. See LRW for rape and sexual assault.).

DV PRACTICE 1: Are laws against domestic violence enforced? [Include conviction and incarceration rates.]

DV PRACTICE 2: Are there taboos against reporting domestic violence? [Include elements that work to fight against those taboos, such as women’s shelters, hotlines, etc.]

DV LAW 1: Are there laws against domestic violence?  Are there auxiliary laws such as concerning illegality of firing a woman in a shelter or in hiding, providing health care or education for those in shelters or hiding? Are there special penalties in cases where women have been subject to acid attacks, attacks over dowry disputes, or have been injured as a result of honor issues?

DV LAW 2: What are the punishments and how is fault decided?

DV LAW 3: Who can be a legal witness [e.g., must it be a male?] and does the woman’s testimony count?

DV DATA 1: How prevalent is domestic violence? [Look for incidence, qualitative, or quantitative information; comparison of male/female victimization.  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?]

DV SCALE 1: Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in database). Professor Rose McDermott's Domestic Violence scale:   Designed to provide quantitative data, where available, of the percentage of women who have had lifetime experience of physical, sexual, psychological, verbal or financial abuse.  If that data was not available, I used the quantitative percentage of women who had suffered such abuse in last year, which typically raises the number somewhat over the lifetime percentage.  Where discrepancies existed, I used the most recent data. Please note that there may be high rates of regional differences in likelihood of violence within some states.  This may mean, for example, that women are at differential risk is they live in an urban versus rural setting, or if they are part of a particular ethnic or minority enclave.  Most women appear to be at greater risk if they have less education, for example.  Some data did not include psychological abuse, while others did, so some data may not be commensurate across states. I used the broadest definition of abuse possible for available data (i.e., I included psychological abuse as part of domestic violence where such data was available).  Please note that the data is much richer than these numbers indicate, and there are specific numbers, percentage of crime, etc, by state within the larger database. This data was derived from Womanstats variable DV Data 1.

____________________________________

b. Female Infanticide/ Sex-selective Abortions (See also Section F for additional information on Abortion)

ISSA PRACTICE 1: Are infanticide and sex-selective abortions practiced? If not, have researchers noted strong son preference or strong valuation of sons versus daugthers?  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?

ISSA PRACTICE 2: If these practices are illegal, how are laws enforced?

ISSA LAW 1: Are these practices legal? If illegal, what are the penalties? Also, does the govenment provide incentive programs for raising girl children (see also GIC)?

ISSA DATA 1: How prevalent are these practices? [At a minimum, use ratings: (1) frequent or common, (2) occasional (not rare) and regional only, and (3) rare or never.]

ISSA DATA 2: Sex ratios (0-4), but take other sex ratios (such as overall ratio, birth ratio, etc.) as well.

ISSA SCALE 1: Originally coded February 2007 (look for updates in the database). Professor Valerie Hudson’s Son Preference/Sex Ratio Scale. (Based on ISSA-PRACTICE-1. DATA-1, DATA-2)

0  There is no son preference, and no abnormality in sex ratios, whether those be birth, childhood, or overall sex ratios.

1  Though a minority of the population expresses son preference, there is no enactment of that preference, so sex ratios are normal.

2  Though a majority expresses son preference, there is no enactment of that preference, so sex ratios are normal.

3  There is almost universal son preference in the society, and one sees abnormal sex ratios (Definition: birth 107-109; childhood 105.1-107; (childhood 0-9) OR operator).

4   There is intense son preference, and there are significant abnormalities in sex ratios, whether those be birth, childhood, or overall sex ratios.  (Definition: birth >109, childhood >107; (childhood 0-9) OR operator.)

 

_____________________________________

______________________________________

iii.  Family and Society

a. Attitudes Towards Families and Patriarchal Authority

ATFPA PRACTICE 1:  What are societal attitudes concerning how much emphasis should be put on family life? [e.g.,  World Values Survey #131]

ATFPA PRACTICE 2 :  Describe typical decision-making practices within the family in relation to gender: for example, is paternal authority privileged over maternal authority in family decisions? (Note: Variable was added in 2008, so data collection lags behind that of other variables in the database.) Also note any differences in the allocation of money or other resources to the family by men as compared to women.

ATFPA PRACTICE 3: Do norms of family decisionmaking extend to the influential institutions of society? That is, in societies where families are patriarchal, do men typically also make the decisions in business and government, whether or not women are officially present in the decisionmaking body? For example, old boy's networks, men-only social clubs, locker rooms, etc. may preclude the full participation of women in the actual decisionmaking, even though there may be women on the decision-making committee. Likewise, the inverse could be that more equal norms of decisionmaking in the family also extend to larger societal institutions.

__________________________________

b. Children Born to/ Raised by Married Couples

CBMC PRACTICE 1: What societal attitudes concerning whether or not children need both a father and mother? [e.g., World Values Survey #109]

CBMC DATA 1: What is the percentage (or at least an estimate of the number) of children born to married couples? To unmarried women?   You can also include figures on rates of unmarried pregnancies and unmarried teen pregnancies here.

____________________________________

c. Definitions of Manhood and Womanhood

DMW-PRACTICE-1: How does this society define manhood and womanhood? For example, is a male a man when he has accomplished something specifically, like solo hunting, job status, number of children sired, violent actions, sexual behavior, etc? Is a female a women when she becomes married, or when she has a child, or when she mensturates?

DMW-PRACTICE-2: Are there formal rites of passages for boys to become men? For girls to become women? What do these involve?

____________________________________

____________________________________

iv.  Polygyny

a. Polygyny

PW PRACTICE 1: Are “temporary marriages” (e.g., mutaa) common?

PW PRACTICE 2: If polygyny is illegal, do people practice bigamous / multi-habitation living situations?

PW PRACTICE 3: What are the practices surrounding polygyny? [Could include legal grounds for taking another wife, whether they are the wife’s consent at the beginning of the marriage, infertility, a woman only bearing daughters, etc.]

PW LAW 1: Is polygyny legal, and if so under what conditions?

PW DATA 1: How prevalent is polygyny?

PW SCALE 1: Originally coded July 2007 (look for updates in the database). Polygyny scale by Professor Rose McDermott: Designed to code the prevalence and legal status of polygyny in a given state. (This is from Womanstats variables PW Practice 2 and 3; PW Law 1 and PW Data 1).

0 Illegal and extremely rare

1 Illegal and common

2 Legal but unusual (<5% of women in such marriages).  In practice, this often means the practice is common in particularly minority ethnic or religious enclaves

3 Legal and occasional (between 5-25% of women in such relationships). This is also coded if informal cohabitations involving multiple partners commonly exist in cultural practice, although the marriage is not formally sanctioned as such.

4. Legal and common (more than 25% of women are in such legal marriages).

_____________________________________

b. Polygyny Concerning Mothers

POLY LAW 1: What are the inheritance laws in polygynous situations? [For example, would the child of the fourth wife get anything?, etc.]

POLY LAW 2: What legal rights do multiple wives have? For example, does the first wife have more rights than subsequent wives?

POLY LAW 3: Does a wife have the right to restrict her husband from marrying multiple women?

______________________________

_______________________________

F. Security for Maternity (See also Section A, part i, for more info on health indicators.)

i. Care Received during Pregnancy, Labor, and after Birth

CRPLB PRACTICE 1:  Describe care given to mothers during pregnancy, labor, and after birth. [Include information like the percentage of births attended by trained personnel.  Include info on fistula care.  Are there class or regional or religious or ethnic differences in practice?] Such care can also be reflected in measures concerning rates of low birth weight babies. Discuss childbirth practices that may affect women's health, including such information as C-section rates, postpartum roasting, inductions, epidurals, postpartum diet restrictions, etc.

______________________________

ii. Maternal Mortality Rate

MMR PRACTICE 1:  Does the state have programs to reduce the incidence of these phenomena (maternal mortality, fistulae, etc.)?

MMR DATA 1: What is the maternal mortality rate?  Maternal morbidity (ex. fistulae)?

MMR SCALE 1: Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births; numerical data only.

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iii. Infant Mortality Rate

IM DATA 1: What is the infant mortality rate? [Note whether this statistic is for the age group 0-1 or 0-5. Collect both.]

IM DATA 2: What are the infant mortality rates for boys and girls?

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iv. Mother’s Age at Birth of First Child

MABFC DATA 1: What is the average age of women when they give birth to their first child? [Extreme ages—as opposed to averages—can also be given here as long as they are clearly marked as such.]

MABFC DATA 2: What is the average spacing between births?

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v. Percentage of Pregnant Women with Anemia

PPWA DATA 1: What is the percentage of pregnant women with anemia? Compare if possible to male rate of anemia or overall rates.

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vi. Birth Rate

BR PRACTICE 1: What are societal attitudes concerning what is the ideal family size? [e.g., World Values Survey #108]

BR PRACTICE 2: What are societal attitudes concerning whether women need children to be fulfilled? [e.g., World Values Survey #110] Does society  devalue women who do not or cannot have children?

BR DATA 1: What is the birth rate?

BR SCALE 1: Births per 1000 population; numerical figures only.

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vii. Government Intervention in Childbearing

GIC LAW 1: Do pro-natalist policies or anti-natalist policies exist? If so, explain them.  [Examples would include payments, allowances, tax credits, cash payments, paid maternity leave, or policies that reduce benefits if more than two children are had, etc.]

GIC LAW 2: Are the benefits tied to employment or marital status or any other status?

GIC LAW 3: What kind of childcare benefits are available? [Include information on maternity leave—both here and under Law 1.]

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viii. Forced Sterilization or Child Bearing

FSCB PRACTICE 1: Is forced sterilization or childbearing customary, even if illegal?  Take any incidence data here. (Don’t overlook vasectomy practice to compare men/women.)

FSCB LAW 1: Does the state force sterilization or childbearing?  Are there financial incentives offered by the state to undergo these things?  Are certain classes of persons subject to these laws and not others?

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ix. Abortion

ABO PRACTICE 1:  What are society’s attitudes toward abortion?

ABO LAW 1: Is abortion legal in cases of incest, rape, or where the life of the mother is at stake? Are there barriers such as parental notification?  Are there time limits on abortion?  Is there state funding for abortion?

ABO DATA1: Incidence of abortion.

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x. Social Acceptance of Breast Feeding

SAB PRACTICE 1: How socially acceptable is breastfeeding? Are there government programs in place to encourage breastfeeding or discourage artificial feeding?

SAB LAW 1: What are the laws regarding breastfeeding? Has the government endorsed the WHO Code against marketing breastmilk substitutes? Are there laws concerning breastfeeding in the workplace?

SAB LAW 2: Is breastfeeding in public restricted at all? If so, where is it illegal? Is there an explicit exemption of breastfeeding women from laws against indecent exposure? (Discuss, if you wish, what the laws on indecent exposure are.)

SAB DATA 1: What is the percentage of babies breastfed at birth?

SAB DATA 2: What is the percentage of babies breastfed at six months?

SAB DATA 3: What is the average weaning age?

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G. Women’s Security Through Voice (See also Section C on Women's Legal Security)

i. Holding Legal Office (See also Section C– Women’s Legal Security for LBHO Laws; this section only has the practice and data variables)

LBHO PRACTICE 1: Are incentives and quotas effective in encouraging more women to run for legislative or elected office? Are they ever prohibitive? [Quotas could be prohibitive if women are only allowed to fill a certain number of slots, when—if allowed—they would actually be elected to more than those allotted. Or, sometimes female quotas are filled via appointment instead of voting.]

LBHO PRACTICE 2: Does the society generally consider men to be better political leaders? [e.g., World Values Survey #118]

LBHO PRACTICE 3: Are there practices or customs that keep women from holding elected office?  Compared to men?

LBHO DATA 1: What percentage of legislators are women?

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ii. Government positions

GP DATA 1: Number or percent of women serving in high ranking government positions.  Also include positions in regional and local government if available.

GP DATA 2: Number or percent of women serving in the Foreign ministry or Defense Ministry. Also, we are interested in understanding the government's sttitudes towards including women in foreign policy and peace negotiations/processes more generally (especially in relation to UN Security Council Resolution 1325. For example, are women sent by this nation to other nations as peacekeepers? Are women involved in peace negotiations/peace-making, or peace-building plans and transitional governments? You may also include information on the composition and scope of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions as they pertain to violations of women's rights. Look also for women in ambassadorial positions or as other official spokespersons for the government.

GP DATA 3: Is there a government position (cabinet level) that is assigned to address and correct issues faced by women?  Does the government publish statistics disaggregated by gender?  Is gender training provided for members of the government?

GP DATA 4: If it exists, is this women-focused ministry headed by a man or a woman?

GP DATA 5: Are there institutions that help address the needs of women? This may include court liaisons that can prosecute cases without the need of the abused women to testify, or special courts to address women's needs etc.  What is the level of funding for such institutions?

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iii. GEM (Gender Empowerment Measure)

GEM DATA 1: GEM score/Rank; be sure to include date.

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H. Women’s Security Through Community Investment

i. Literacy Rates

LR DATA 1: What are male and female literacy rates? How do they compare?

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ii. Women’s Access to Formal Education

AFE PRACTICE 1: Are there miscellaneous barriers or incentives for women to attend school? [For example, education is legal, but customs or practices serve to keep girls from attending school—such as married or pregnant girls not being allowed to attend, distance from school, childcare responsibilities, chores, safety concerns, lack of female teachers or separate facilities, etc.] Also, is there any information on whether the quality of education (or educational facilities, or resource allocations) given to girls is different from that given to boys, especially in sex-segregated educational systems?

AFE PRACTICE 2: What are societal attitudes concerning whether a university education is more important for a boy than for a girl? [e.g., World Values Survey # 119}

AFE PRACTICE 3: According to societal attitudes, what is the ideal level of education for a man and for a woman? [e.g., World Values Survey #226] Compare this with actual rates to take into account cultural attitudes towards education. (E.g., , if the actual rates of education for everyone are no higher than a 5th grade level, it may not be a reflection of gender bias if women only have a 5th grade education.]

AFE LAW 1: Do females have a legal right to education? [This includes whether education is mandatory and for what grades.] Compare to men.

AFE DATA 1: What is the percentage of females going to school? (This will look at comparison of men and women at the three major levels of education ).

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iii. Area of Study Restrictions

ASR PRACTICE 1: Are women prohibited or seriously discouraged in practice from studying certain subjects, even if the law permits them to do so?  Are there other barriers, such as fear or social unacceptability or ostracism of women in a certain area of study?

ASR PRACTICE 2: Are women prohibited or seriously discouraged from participating in school-related sports, even if the law permits them to do so? Are there other barriers, such as fear or social unacceptability or dress codes that inhibit such participation? Are there facilities for women in school-related sports?

ASR LAW 1: Are women legally able to study any area they choose? [Do women have to study in a same-sex school, and if so are such schools available for all professions—e.g., medical, etc.?]

ASR LAW 2: Are there any legal prohibitions that would support or deny women's participation in school-related sports? (For example, Title IX legislation.)

ASR DATA 1: What percentage of lawyers, judges, and doctors are women? Also science and technology and engineering?  [These professions are typically male-dominated and require high levels of education. It can be important for women to have access to female lawyers and doctors.]

ASR DATA 2: Are there any figures on women's participation in school-related sports? (Especially as compared to men's rates.)

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iv. NGO’s Focused on women (See also in Section C, ‘Land Ownership and Property Rights’)

NGOFW PRACTICE 1: Define the relationship between NGOs focused on women, and the government. Does the government encourage the formation of such NGOs? Do they work in cooperation with one another or are they antagonistic? Are NGOs generally from outside the nation or are they national grass-roots level organizations?

 NGOFW DATA 1: Look for the presence of NGOs oriented to female entrepreneurship. [For examples, micro credit. The presence of such NGOs could signify a lack of women’s rights in this area]

 NGOFW DATA 2: How long have women-oriented NGOs been in the country? [If the NGOs haven’t been there long, women’s rights may still be lacking; if they have been there a while, hopefully women’s rights have improved in this area.]

NGOFW DATA 3: Does (and how) the government involve women in development projects within the state? These do not have to be specifically directed at women. The idea is to see if women, and particular their concerns, are being considered in the solving of social problems.

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v. Sports, Recreational Activities, and Continuing Education

SRACE PRACTICE 1: Do women participate in community sports, including national-level sports that might lead to participation in the Olympics? Are there any barriers or any encouragement from the society for such participation? Does the government have programs to encourage women's participation? Are facilities for women to participate in community sports? (Activities for school-aged children should go in ASR.)

SRACE PRACTICE 2: Are continuing education/recreational activities open to both men and women? Are there government programs to provide such opportunities for women? Are NGOs involved in providing such opportunities for women?

SRACE LAW 1: Are there any legal prohibitions against women participating in community sports, or receiving continuing education? Are there any legal constraints, such as dress codes for women in sports?

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I. Women’s Security in the State

i. Accession to CEDAW

ATC DATA 1: Date of Accession to the CEDAW convention. This should be the date that it was ratified by country. If it was signed but not ratified please make note of this. 

ATC DATA 2: Number of reservations.

ATC DATA 3: What are the reservations? Which parts of the convention did the country remove before they would ratify it? Include the article and subject. Why did the country feel it needed to be removed?

ATC DATA 4:  Accession to optional protocol, and date?

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ii. Asylum for Women

AW PRACTICE 1: Under what circumstances is asylum customarily granted to women [For example, on grounds like FGM, one-child policy, etc.]  Compared to men?  (See also Trafficking variable cluster.)

AW LAW 1: Under what circumstances is asylum legally granted to women [For example, on grounds like FGM, one-child policy, etc.]  Comparison to men?  (See also Trafficking variable cluster.)

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iii. Government/Subnational GroupExploitation of Women

GEW PRACTICE 1: How accepting is the government and military of rape and/or kidnapping of women and girls being used as a weapon of war? Does its use vary by ethnicity?  Forced labor of women/men? What about military forces sent as peacekeepers to other lands? Are there subnational groups, such as rebel movements or rebel armies, that use kidnapping and rape as a tactic of war against the government?

GEW PRACTICE 2: In terms of prosecution, how are the laws of the nation enforced—specifically, are there gender differences in prosecution under the law where women and where men are concerned?

GEW PRACTICE 3: Does the government encourage the use of women and girlsas an instrument of the state? In what way? What about subnational groups, such as rebel movements or rebel armies? This is purposefully left general.

GEW LAW 1: Are there laws that would prevent the use of rape or kidnapping or trafficking as weapons of war?

GEW DATA 1: How common are crimes against women and girls, such as rape, during war? Indicate if there has been little to no potential (i.e. not at war in the last decade or so) and/or if there has been war- related rape, if it occurred under a different government administration. You can also include sexual exploitation of women by the nation's military serving as peacekeepers in another country, or exploitation of women by subnational groups such as rebel movements or rebel armies.

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iv. Exemption of women from combat / military service

EWCMS LAW 1: Are women allowed to serve in the military? What about in combat? Compare to military service requirements for men?  Are women the targets of recruitment as well as men?

EWCMS LAW 2: Are women draftable (including military conscription)?  Compare to men.

EWCMS LAW 3: Can women be required to serve in a combat position? [There might be a national service alternative.]

EWCMS LAW4 : Does the state recruit women into the police? Are there special female police forces?

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v. Exemption of mothers from combat / military service

EMCMS LAW 1: Are mothers draftable (including military conscription)?

EMCMS LAW 2: If a woman becomes pregnant or has minor children, can she choose to be discharged or serve in a non-combat position?

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vi. Differential Treatment Under Law

DTCP  PRACTICE 1: Are there instances of codified differences in punishment based solely on gender? Do police treat women complainants and perpetrators differently from those who are male? Do police physically assault women, rape women, etc., resulting in reluctance of women to seek police help? (Look also at Practice variables under clusters such as Rape, etc.?) Are there different prison conditions for men and women that make prison life even more difficult for a woman? Are the jailors of women, men or women as well?  What is the situation of children of women who are jailed, or women who are pregnant and give birth while jailed? Are there special morality police who focus on women, such as their dress or behavior? Note also that in addition to the police, this variable may also be applied to other government officials with whom women must interact.

DTCP  LAW 1: Does the government allow religious tribunals to adjudicate certain types of legal matters, such as family law concerning marriage, divorce, custody, support, inheritance, etc.? Do these religious tribunals judge according to a system of law that treats women differently from men? Is that differential treatment biased against women, for example, are men allowed unlimited rights to divorce while women find it very difficult to obtain a divorce? (This variable was added October 2008, so there may not be very much information coded yet. Check other, related variables for pertinent information coded before this date.)

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vii. Recent Changes (Improvements/retrogressions) in Status of Women

RISW PRACTICE 1: In the past five years, have there been any significant changes in practice or policy that indicates a desire to improve the status of women within society?

RISW PRACTICE 2: In the past five years, have there been any significant changes in practice or policy that indicates backtracking in the status of women within society?

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viii. Constitutional Law

CONST LAW 1: Is discrimination on the basis of sex expressly outlawed by the Constitution or basic law of the land, and/or does the Constitution or the basic law of the land expressly indicate that both men and women are equal before the law?

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J. Additional Data

ADDL DATA 1: Any additional information on the status of women that is not included in the above variables may be included here.