by measuring these discriminatory social institutions in key areas that affect a womans life the social institutions and gender index sigi produced by the organisation for economic cooperation and developments oecd development centre has been instrumental in documenting the persistence and prevalence of gender discrimination across countries at different stages of development the sigi also has been used increasingly to explore the links between discriminatory social institutions and gender disparities in wellbeing outcomes gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but also a critical economic challenge