Bayesian networks as a territorial gender impact assessment tool

Gender impact assessment is a process that evaluates the effect of gender policies and motivates the introduction of subsequent improvement strategies oriented at balancing out gender inequalities. Currently, one of the most employed tools to assess the effect of gender-related policies is the European Gender Equality Index, a composite indicator that summarizes several dimensions of the gender gap. In this paper, a Bayesian networkbased approach is proposed as an alternative for combining dimensions of the index. Such modelling, discussed through an application, allows the construction of a network where ingredients of the index interact with socio-economic variables and the inferential engine associated to the network is employed to carry-out both ex-ante and ex-post analysis. As a result, the method can be a valuable tool for supporting the gender impact assessment