India Ranks Lower Than Pakistan on Gender Equality
Pakistan better than India on UNDP gender inequality index
Pakistan's overall rank a low 146 out of 185 countries on the Human Development Index.
Pakistan and neighbouring countries on the Gender Inequality Index from UNDP's Human Development Report 2013.
According to the report, the gender inequality index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.
India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on the gender inequality index – lower than Pakistan (123), according to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report 2013.
The report said all countries in South Asia, with the exception of Afghanistan, were a better place for women than India, with Sri Lanka (75) topping them all. Nepal ranked 102nd and Bangladesh 111th.
The gender inequality index measures the loss in a country’s progress and human development because of gender inequality in three sectors: reproductive health, women empowerment and labor market participation.
The report notes that “gender inequality is especially tragic not only because it excludes women from basic social opportunities, but also because it gravely imperils the life prospects of future generations.”
India ranks low partly because of its skewed sex ratio, with only 914 females every 100 males, according to Indian government data. Indian families often prefer boys to girls, and female feticide is tragically common.
The UNDP study says that only 29% of Indian women above the age of 15 in 2011 were a part of the country’s labor force, compared to 80.7% men. In Parliament, only 10.9% of lawmakers are women, while in Pakistan 21.1% are women.
In United States which ranks 42nd on the list, 57.5% women and 70.1% men are a part of the labor force. China fared even better, landing 35th.
India also fares badly on education and health for women.
Only 26.6% women above 25 years received a secondary education in 2010, compared to 50.4% of men. Pakistan scored even lower, with 18.3% of women having received secondary education compared to 43.1% of men.
In the U.S., 94.7% women have received a secondary education – a figure slightly higher than for men (94.3%). In China, this figure was 54.8% for women and 70.4% for men.
In India, 200 women died every 100,000 childbirths, says the report. In China, the number was considerably lower (37 deaths) and in the U.S. even lower than that (21.)
Women’s issues in India have been in the limelight since the December gang rape and death of a young woman.
After the incident, widespread protests asking for stronger laws and protection for women took place around the country. Women activists point to the bias against women in India, and say that the patriarchal mindset in India needs to change
After the incident, a committee set up to look into the issue of women safety suggested massive overhauls to existing laws for crime against women. The proposed laws need Parliament’s approval.
Overall, the report hails India’s economic progress, but points at slow improvements on the human development front. On the human development index, India ranks 136 out of 187 countries mentioned in the study.
India has made strides in reducing poverty by cash transfer and employment guaranteed programs for the poor, the report says. The report praises measures like the Right to Education Act, which reserves seats for the underprivileged in all schools in the country.
But the report mentions that huge income inequalities, gender inequality and the caste divide remain major issues.
Value index
The value index provides an indicator of the depth of participation in global markets. More than four-fifths of these developing countries increased their trade to output ratio between 1990 and 2012.
In the HDI value index, Pakistan has been recognised to have shown “substantial improvement”.
The report states, “among the exceptions in the subgroup that also made substantial improvement in HDI value are Indonesia, Pakistan and Venezuela, three large countries that are considered global players in world markets, exporting or importing from at least 80 economies”.
Multidimensional Poverty
The report reveals that in South Asia, the highest Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value is in Bangladesh (0.292 with data for 2007), followed by Pakistan (0.264 with data for 2007) and Nepal (0.217 with data for 2011).
The proportion of the population living in multidimensional poverty is 58% in Bangladesh, 49% in Pakistan and 44% in Nepal, and the intensity of deprivation is 50% in Bangladesh, 53% in Pakistan and 49% in Nepal.
When compared to Pakistan a larger proportion of the population lives in multidimensional poverty in Bangladesh. However the intensity of deprivation is higher in Pakistan.
Overall rank
Overall, Pakistan ranked a low 146 out of the 185 countries on the HDI.
Norway ranked highest on the HDI at number one, while Niger ranked lowest.
Comments
We shouldn’t benchmark against India .
India is an outlier which still has a huge problem with selective abortion .For God’s sake , they have 112 boys vs 100 girl sex ratio in the world – this is like the
worst in the world .
Saying that Pakistan fares better or worse than India in some index is ridiculous. Is India the benchmark we need to meet? If you want to compare yourself to anyone then compare with the best.
lol they are talking about sex ratio not women freedom index .pakistan women are way behind than indian women in litteracy rate ,women freedom index ,jobs and mortality rate
Pakistan has 105 vs 100, which is the same as UK.
Please compare Pakistan to some country better than us, otherwise the standard of nothing will never improve. India is not the benchmark for anything.
India has a long way to go in gender equality.
However, the definition of gender equality is different in India than in the west. This means, we need to change the mindset to change the very definition of gender equality in India.
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