Patriarchy Index in South and Southeast Asian Countries: A Quantitative Approach

Although there has been progress toward gender equality, patriarchal culture persists and continues to have an impact on women’s and young men’s lives in south-Asian (SA) and southeast-Asian (SEA) countries. Despite this, there have been limited attempts to quantify patriarchy in this region. Given the relevance of patriarchy in tracking progress in gender equality, this study aims to assess the extent of patriarchy in 12 SA and SEA countries. We use the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data for these countries to estimate a patriarchy index (PI) for each country and rank these countries based on the estimated PI values. We also estimate PI by urban-rural residence and landholding size in each of these 12 countries. We then provide sub-national PI estimates for larger countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. Patriarchy was highest in Afghanistan and lowest in Maldives. Barring Maldives, patriarchy was higher in SA countries compared with SEA countries. Patriarchy was higher in rural than urban areas in 11 out of the 12 countries. As the DHS surveys are routinely conducted in many countries, PI may be a powerful index for tracking progress towards gender equality at more local levels in these countries.