The Dominican Republic is listed in the highest ranked group of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). The DR is ranked 14th of 108 countries analyzed in the 2014 Index. <\/p>\n
The index is a cross-country measure of discrimination against women in social institutions (formal and informal laws, social norms and practices). <\/p>\n
The SIGI Index seeks to raise awareness to reduce discrimination that intersects across all stages of girls’ and women’s life, restricting their access to justice, rights and empowerment opportunities. <\/p>\n
The SIGI covers five dimensions of discriminatory social institutions: discriminatory family code, restricted physical integrity, son bias, restricted resources and assets, and restricted civil liberties. The SIGI’s variables quantify discriminatory social institutions such as unequal inheritance rights, early marriage, violence against women, and unequal land and property rights. <\/p>\n
Low-level discrimination countries are characterized by robust legal frameworks and measures that provide equal rights in the family code and in access to resources and assets and that promote women’s civil liberties. In most of these countries, women and men have equal parental and inheritance rights, and early marriage is not a common practice. Women do not face restrictions on their access to public space or their participation in politics. Neither missing women nor female genital mutilation is a concern. However, the countries lack laws to protect women from violence and measures to implement them, and women need better access to justice. On average 20% of women in these countries have been victims of domestic violence in their lifetime.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/genderindex.org\/sites\/default\/files\/docs\/BrochureSIGI2015.pdf<\/p>\n