Exploring Gender Inequality Worldwide
In 2011, Gallup conducted a poll asking men and women around the world the following question:
"In the city or area where you live, do you feel safe walking alone at night?"
I compared the GDP per capita (an indicator of a country's standard of living) with each country's gender gap (the percentage of men who said they felt safe minus the percentage of women), instinctively believing that I would find an inverse relationship. I assumed that the more developed a country, the more equality among the genders, thereby reducing the gender gap.
However, what I found suggests that in many high-income countries, men are more likely than women to say they feel safe walking alone at night in their communities. The implication seems to be that as countries develop, measures taken to improve physical safety address the needs of men, but not those of women.
Gallup; World Bank