Gender inequality remains a significant challenge across the globe, affecting all aspects of life from health and education to political representation and economic opportunities. Within the United States, a recent study published in PLOS ONE has introduced a new tool that enables researchers to compare gender inequality between different states, shedding light on the relationship between regional disparities, well-being, and participation in feminist movements like #MeToo.
While the Gender Inequality Index (GII) is widely used to compare gender disparities at the national level, there was a lack of tools specifically designed to measure these disparities within a country, such as between different states in the United States. The researchers sought to adapt the GII to a state-level version, termed the state-level Gender Inequality Index (GII-S), to provide more granular insights into how gender inequality varies across the United States.
“My interest in this topic stems from the pervasive issue of gender inequality and its broader implications. While much of the discourse around gender inequality focuses on its detrimental impact on women, I wanted to explore how these disparities challenge our collective societal progress,” said study co-author Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara of New York University Abu Dhabi.
“Gender inequality is not just a women’s issue—it’s a societal one. Overcoming these inequalities is crucial if we aspire to create a world where everyone, regardless of gender, can live with dignity and satisfaction. By examining how gender inequality correlates with both online feminist activism and broader socio-structural factors, we aimed to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on how we can better understand and address these challenges.”
Study co-author Alice Lucarini of University of Modena and Reggio Emilia added: “In the fall of 2018, I was doing a visiting research period at the New York University, working alongside my co-authors on the consequences of delayed reports of sexual harassment on people’s perceptions of female victims. During that time, the #MeToo movement was gaining significant momentum, bringing the issue of gender inequality into sharp focus across the United States. The movement’s impact on public discourse was profound, revealing the extent to which gender-based disparities permeate various aspects of society.”
“That is when Dr. Salvador Casara, Prof. Suitner, Prof. Knowles and I began contemplating the idea of studying gender inequality and its implications not only at the interpersonal level but adopting a systemic, country-level perspective. As Dr. Casara pointed out, gender inequality is not just a women’s issue; it’s a societal issue that impacts everyone.”
“This led us to consider how gender inequality might be linked to broader socio-cultural factors and to collective behaviors, such as online participation in the #MeToo movement, which was rapidly becoming a barometer of societal attitudes toward gender inequality,” Lucarini explained. “By developing the GII-S (our state-level measure of gender inequality) we sought to capture these dynamics and contribute to a deeper understanding of how gender inequality operates not just in individual lives, but across different regions of the country.”
To calculate the GII-S scores, the researchers gathered data from multiple sources, focusing on three primary dimensions of gender inequality: health, labor, and political participation. These dimensions were chosen because they capture key aspects of gender disparities, such as differences in maternal mortality rates, labor force participation, and political representation. The data used in the analysis were from 2016, the most recent year for which complete information was available.
The researchers calculated GII-S scores for 47 out of the 50 U.S. states. Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont were excluded from the analysis due to missing data on some of the indicators. Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma scored highest for gender inequality, while Massachusetts, California and Maine scored lowest.
To validate the GII-S, the researchers then examined its relationship with several well-being indicators at the state level.
The researchers found that states with higher GII-S scores, indicating greater gender inequality, tended to have worse outcomes in multiple domains. For example, women in states with higher GII-S scores reported more health problems and rated their health more negatively compared to women in states with lower GII-S scores. This suggests that gender inequality may have a broad impact on women’s health, both objectively (in terms of specific health issues) and subjectively (in terms of how women perceive their overall health).
Financial well-being was also negatively associated with GII-S scores, particularly for women. In states with higher levels of gender inequality, women reported lower financial security, which could reflect broader economic challenges associated with gender disparities, such as lower wages and fewer employment opportunities for women.
The researchers also found that GII-S scores were linked to women’s perceptions of safety and life satisfaction. Women in states with higher gender inequality felt less safe and were less satisfied with their lives. This finding suggests that gender inequality may contribute to a sense of vulnerability and dissatisfaction among women, possibly due to factors like economic dependence or exposure to gender-based violence.
To explore the relationship between gender inequality and participation in the #MeToo movement, the researchers conducted a subsequent study. The #MeToo movement, which gained widespread attention on social media, particularly on Twitter, serves as a marker of feminist collective action. The researchers were interested in whether states with higher levels of gender inequality were less likely to engage in this form of activism.
To conduct this analysis, the researchers collected tweets containing the #MeToo hashtag from across the United States during a specific timeframe: January 18, 2019, to February 20, 2019. This period was chosen because it represented a peak in public engagement with the movement, as indicated by data from Google Trends. The researchers divided the tweets into two groups: those containing the #MeToo hashtag and a randomly selected sample of general tweets sent during the same period.
The researchers also gathered data on the political orientation of each state, using survey data from the Gallup U.S. Dailies. They created a scale to measure the overall political leaning of each state, ranging from very liberal to very conservative. This allowed them to explore whether political ideology influenced participation in the #MeToo movement, alongside gender inequality.
The researchers found that states with higher GII-S scores, indicating greater gender inequality, were less likely to produce tweets containing the #MeToo hashtag. This suggests that in states with higher levels of gender inequality, there may be lower levels of engagement with feminist collective action, such as the #MeToo movement. One possible explanation is that in environments where gender inequality is more entrenched, there may be less awareness of or support for feminist causes, leading to lower levels of public activism.
The study also examined the role of political orientation in this dynamic. The researchers found a significant correlation between state-level GII-S scores and political conservatism, with more conservative states tending to have higher levels of gender inequality.
However, when it came to participation in the #MeToo movement, political orientation alone did not show a strong relationship with the prevalence of #MeToo tweets. This suggests that while conservative political beliefs may be linked to higher gender inequality, they are not the sole determinant of engagement with feminist activism.
Moreover, the researchers conducted a model comparison analysis using Bayes Factors, a statistical tool that compares the strength of evidence for different models. They found that the model including GII-S scores as a predictor of #MeToo tweet prevalence was significantly stronger than models that included only political orientation or other factors. This indicates that gender inequality, as captured by the GII-S, is a more robust predictor of participation in the #MeToo movement than political ideology alone.
“One key takeaway from our studies is the interconnectedness of our online and offline worlds,” Salvador Casara told PsyPost. “Social media is often seen as a separate space, detached from reality, but our research demonstrates that online trends, such as participation in the #MeToo movement, are closely tied to the structural inequalities present in the real world. This suggests that the online activism we witness is not just a fleeting trend but a reflection of deeper societal issues. Understanding this connection highlights the importance of addressing gender inequality at its roots, as these disparities not only affect women’s lives offline but also shape the nature and extent of feminist activism online.”
“A key takeaway from our study is the need to approach gender inequality as a universal issue that affects everyone, regardless of gender,” Lucarini said. “Acknowledging that gender inequality has widespread negative effects can be crucial for raising awareness and mobilizing a broader population segment. Additionally, I agree with Dr. Casara that our research highlights the deep connection between the online and offline worlds. By demonstrating how real-world gender disparities are reflected in online activism, we’ve shown that social media discussions and movements are not isolated phenomena but are indicative of deeper structural issues.”
While the study provides valuable insights, it is not without its limitations. One of the primary limitations is that the findings are correlational, meaning they show associations between variables but do not prove causality. For example, while the study found a link between gender inequality and lower participation in the #MeToo movement, it cannot definitively say that gender inequality causes reduced participation. Other factors could be influencing both gender inequality and engagement in feminist activism.
The study, “Unveiling gender inequality in the US: Testing validity of a state-level measure of gender inequality and its relationship with feminist online collective action on Twitter,” was authored by Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara, Alice Lucarini, Eric D. Knowles, and Caterina Suitner.
