The Gender Inequality Index in Morocco and Tunisia

Gender Inequality Index (GII) is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievement between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.

• The health dimension is measured by the maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate.
• The empowerment dimension is measured by the share of parliamentary seats held by each gender, and by secondary and higher education attainment levels.
• The labour dimension is measured by women's participation in the workforce.

With respect to gender equality, Morocco ranks 104th (GII 0.456) out of a total of 191 countries in terms of the Gender Inequality Index and in 2021, only 23.4 per cent of women were working (7.6 percentage points lower than the MENA average) while 87.2 per cent of all managerial positions were held by men.

Tunisia ranks 61st (GII 0.259) globally in terms of gender equality.

Since the approval of the new constitution in 2014, the conditions of Tunisian women have improved significantly, for example through changes acted in the political field such as the inclusion in the constitutional text of the principle of equality as opposed to the principle of complementarity.

Although women returnees in Morocco and Tunisia, as well as those living there, actively participate in policy development, improving their status, scholarly research tends to underestimate the value and role of returnees as actors of change in the cultural, social and economic spheres, all the more so if they are women.

Against this background, WE-PROPOSE analyses policies on voluntary return migration from Italy to Tunisia and Morocco to provide policy recommendations on the topic.

Further Reading