Introducing the Historical Gender Equality Index
构建了一个覆盖129个国家、1950年至2003年的历史性别平等指数，从社会经济、健康、家庭和政治四个维度衡量性别平等，发现虽然整体进步显著，但性别平等程度较低的国家并未追赶上来，长期制度与历史特征是主要障碍。
Despite recent progress, women are still disadvantaged by their greater domestic labor commitments and impaired access to well-paid jobs; and, in extreme cases, denied the right to live. This has consequences for the well-being of individuals and economic development. Although tools to evaluate country performance in gender equality, especially composite indicators, have been developed since the 1990s, a historical perspective is lacking. This study introduces a composite index of gender equality covering 129 countries from 1950 to 2003. This index measures gender equality in four dimensions (socioeconomic, health, household, and politics). The index shows substantial progress in gender equality, though there is little evidence that less gender-equal countries are catching up. Goldin's “quiet revolution” hypothesis is tested as an explanation for this observation, but fails to provide a good explanation. Rather, the long-term institutional and historical characteristics of countries are the main obstacles to convergence.