What is the gender empowerment measure (GEM)?
The GEM – gender empowerment measure – is a composite indicator that captures gender inequality in three key areas:
- Political participation and decision-making, as measured by women’s and men’s percentage shares of parliamentary seats;
- Economic participation and decision-making power, as measured by two indicators – women’s and men’s percentage shares of positions as legislators, senior officials and managers and women’s and men’s percentage shares of professional and technical positions;
- Power over economic resources, as measured by women’s and men’s estimated earned income (PPP US$).
For details on how to calculate the GEM see 
Technical note 1 HDR 2007/2008 [5,680 KB].
