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gender bender

There are visible gender
gaps in major areas of
human development

political representation, labour market, etc.—with in 160 countries; it yields insights in gender gaps in
negative consequences for the development of their major areas of human development. The component
capabilities and their freedom of choice. indicators highlight areas in need of critical policy
The GII is an inequality index. It measures gender intervention and it stimulates proactive thinking
inequalities in three important aspects of human and public policy to overcome the systematic disad-
development — reproductive health, measured by vantages of women.
maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates;
empowerment, measured by proportion of par- Better policing
liamentary seats occupied by females and propor- There could be several reasons for India’s poor rank-
tion of adult females and males aged 25 years and ing in the survey but India faces twin problems in
older with at least some secondary education; and dealing with crimes against women. India is one of
economic status, expressed as labour market partici- the world’s most under-policed countries with about
pation and measured by labour force participation 130 policemen per 100,000 people while even Paki-
rate of female and male populations aged 15 years stan has 207, USA has 256 and UK over 300. More
and older. policemen on the streets would be a stronger pre-
The GII is built on the same framework as the ventive measure against crime against women. The
IHDI — to better expose differences in the distribu- other problem is the patriarchal mindset as female
tion of achievements between women and men. It foeticide continues and successive census showing
measures the human development costs of gender skewed female ratio vis-à-vis male ratio. There is a
inequality. Thus the higher the GII value the more need for India to shed the veil of conservatism and
disparities between females and males and the more give respect, equality to women.
loss to human development.
The GII sheds new light on the position of women letters@tehelka.com

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