Macroeconomic Determinants of Gender Inequality Index in Eight ASEAN Countries

Gender inequality is a situation where women and men are not equal and it leads to an unequal treatment or an individual perception as a whole. Gender inequality is still a major obstacle to human development. It will have a negative impact on the development of their ability and freedom of choice. This study is aimed to examine macroeconomic determinants, namely gross domestic product per capita, trade and foreign direct investment to gender inequality index in eight ASEAN countries. They are Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The research was taken from 2010 to 2015 by using the dynamic panel data. The results concluded that all independent variables were significant and had a negative direction. It means that the increase in gross domestic product per capita, trade, and foreign direct investment substantially lowered the gender inequality index in eight ASEAN countries. These results emphasize the importance of continuously improving all macroeconomic determinants because they will impact the decline of gender inequality in eight ASEAN countries.