The GII is an inequality indexreleased by UNDP. It measures gender inequalities in three important aspects of human development—
reproductive Health, measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates;
Empowerment, measured by proportion of parliamentary seats occupied by females and proportion of adult females and males aged 25 years and older with at least some secondary education; and
Economic status, expressed as labour market participation and measured by labour force participation rate of female and male populations aged 15 years and older.
The GII is built on the same framework as the IHDI—to better expose differences in the distribution of achievements between women and men.
It measures the human development costs of gender inequality. Thus the higher the GII value the more disparities between females and males and the more loss to human development.
In the Gender Inequality Index (GII), India is at 122 out of 162 countries. Neighbours China (39), Sri Lanka (86), Bhutan (99), Myanmar (106) were placed above India.
The report forecasts that it may take 202 years to close the gender gap in economic opportunity
Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 10th December 2019
