Review Article

Indian J Med Res 126, October 2007, pp 328-340

Gender equity & human development

Swarna S. Vepa
Ford Foundation Chair for Women & Sustainable Food Security, M. S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation, Chennai, India
Received June 5, 2007

The welfare of both women and men constitutes the human welfare. At the turn of the century
amidst the glory of unprecedented growth in national income, India is experiencing the spread of
rural distress. It is mainly due to the collapse of agricultural economy. Structural adjustments and
competition from large-scale enterprises result in loss of rural livelihoods. Poor delivery of public
services and safety nets, deepen the distress. The adverse impact is more on women than on men.
This review examines the adverse impact of the events in terms of endowments, livelihood
opportunities and nutritional outcomes on women in detail with the help of chosen indicators at two
time-periods roughly representing mid nineties and early 2000. The gender equality index computed
and the major indicators of welfare show that the gender gap is increasing in many aspects. All the
aspects of livelihoods, such as literacy, unemployment and wages now have larger gender gaps than
before. Survival indicators such as juvenile sex ratio, infant mortality, child labour have deteriorated
for women, compared to men, though there has been a narrowing of gender gaps in life expectancy
and literacy. The overall gender gap has widened due to larger gaps in some indicators, which are
not compensated by the smaller narrowing in other indicators both in the rural and urban context.
Key words Gender equity - human welfare - indicators - unemployment - work participation

Human development index has been the first

successful attempt to bring to the fore a number of other
aspects of human life besides the national income (GDP
or GNP, gross domestic product or gross national
product) that indicates only the economic achievement
of the country. The welfare of both women and men
constitutes the human welfare. To understand the
magnitude of deprivation of human rights and
entitlements of women compared to men, it is important
to look at the gender dimensions. There is a need to
highlight the gender inequity in human development.

very different rewards and deprivations. From looking

at the state of advantages and deprivations that women
and men respectively have, there is an important need to
look at the contrast between (i) the efforts and sacrifices
made by each, and (ii) the rewards and benefits
respectively enjoyed. This contrast is important for a
better understanding of gender injustice in the
contemporary world. The exacting nature of womens
efforts and contributions, without commensurate
rewards, is a particularly important subject,1. Often there
is a need for looking at the measurable indicators that
show the evidence of inequity so that proper policies
and programmes can be devised. Realising the
importance, the Human Development Report2 started
calculating gender related indices in recent years.

As has been observed by some researchers in the

field, Women and men share many aspects of living
together, collaborate with each other in complex and
ubiquitous ways, and yet end up - often enough - with
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Gender equity has to be promoted in the national

interest. To end the deprivation of women is not only
an issue of human right but also an issue of promoting
national development. It has been argued that women
are agents of positive change in the socio-economic
development3. Expansion of womens capabilities in
terms of education, income, access to resources and
participation in community and group activities has an
impact not only on womens own freedom and wellbeing but also on the well-being of the society. Better
care of children in terms of education and health, fall
in infant mortality, fall in fertility rates are some of the
impacts observed in various studies. Enhancing
womens educational achievement, skill sets and the
access to factors of production complementary to labour
increase the human resource available for development.
Gender related Indices
The Human Development Report 20062 published
by The United Nations Development Programme gives
the gender related development index (GDI), and the
gender empowerment measure (GEM) for various
countries. The Human Development Report shows that
developed countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland
Germany, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and
United States come in the top 10-15 ranks. India
occupies the rank 96 in terms of GDI out of 159
countries. GDI and GEM essentially measure the
achievements.
A recent study of the World Economic Forum titled
Global Gender Gap Report 2006 4 calculated the
Gender Gap Index 2006 for 115 countries. India ranks
98 among these countries. India has an Index value of
0.60 as against the highest value of 0.81 for Sweden.
The gender gap index unlike the gender empowerment
measures (GEM) of the UNDP, measures the inequity
and not the overall empowerment through participation
and visibility in many fields.
The National Human development Report of India,
20015, has calculated gender disparity index for India
for 1981 and 1991. As per this study, the gender disparity
declined and the index improved from 0.620 in 1981 to
0.676 in 1991. The major emphasis in this index has
been on school attendance of children and
improvements in life expectancy.
It is true that the composite indices such as these
miss out on many aspects of human well-being and very
broadly show the state of affairs. It is important not
only to look at the position of a country in the global

329

context but also to record as to how the country is

progressing over a period of time. However, in terms
of broad indicators, such as literacy, life expectancy
and work population ratios, the gender gap is seen to
be declining. To capture the practical dimensions of
gender gap one has to look into a number of other
indicators than those used in the aggregative indices.
Ideally to assess the well-being of women specific to a
country one has to look at the country context and the
ground realities and accordingly choose the indicators
to evaluate the progress made.
There are not many studies of gender inequity in
India, the reason probably being the lack of gender
disaggregated data for the recent periods. Now the 55th
round quinquennial National Sample Survey with a
bigger sample than the annual surveys has thrown more
light on the certain aspects of womens work6. The
present study looks at the recent data and tries to
examine how the changes in the economy have
influenced the well-being of women in India.
The Indicators of human welfare
There is a search for gender-equity-sensitive
indicators of achievements and freedoms. All the indices
calculated by the Human Development Report 2006 and
the Global Gender Gap Report 2006 clearly show that
the gender inequity is higher in the developing countries
compared to developed countries. Developed countries
achieved a certain level of sensitivity and created
equality of opportunity through conscious laws and
social security measures for women.
The gender development index (GDI) of UNDP
looks at the difference between the male and female
achievements. These are life expectancy at birth, adult
literacy rate, school enrolments of children in primary
and secondary levels and estimated earnings adjusted
for purchasing power parity. The gender empowerment
measures (GEM) of UNDP includes indictors such as
percentage shares of the parliamentary seats for women,
percentage share of seats in the legislature and
percentage of share of women in professional and
technical jobs. The major indicators of human welfare
used both for the gender related development index of
UNDP and gender gap index of World Economic Forum
are more or less the same except that the gender gap
index includes labour force participation ratios, women
at the ministerial level, and the sex ratio at birth.
Inclusion of sex ratio at birth is a significant
improvement over the other indices. The National
Human Development Report of the Planning

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INDIAN J MED RES, OCTOBER 2007

Commission, Govt. of India uses infant mortality ratios

and life expectancy at age one for male and female
population, literacy rate for the population above the
age of seven, intensity of formal education and worker
population ratio for women. The index also gives higher
weight to school attendance over adult literary and
higher weight to life expectation than infant mortality
rates. The gender gap calculated by the author and given
in the last section of this article in respect of the
indicators chosen, show the gap as a proportion. The
gender gap is expressed as the advantage of women as
a proportion of mens advantage. The gap is expressed
as a proportion varying between 1 and 0. One and above
indicates absence of any negative gap or equality
between men and women Zero indicates highest
possible negativge gap indicating discrimination of
women or zero equality. Higher the proportion, lower
the gap. Lower the proportion, higher the gap.
Improvement is obvious when the expressed proportion
moves closer to one and beyond. Now let us examine
how some of these indicators can capture the human
deprivation or enrichment and how relevant they are in
the Indian context.
Labour force participation ratio (LFPR) and work
participation ratio (WPR) as an indicator of
womens welfare
The labour force participation ratios and worker
population ratios are in general very low in India due
to high dependency of children, elderly and other
members of the family who do not work. Labour force
participation measures the proportion of men and
women who are willing to engage themselves in the
economic activities which are included in the system
of national income accounting (contribute to the national
Income). Labour force consists of those who are
employed and those who are unemployed but looking
for work. Those who are not willing to work and those
who are in the educational institutions are not included
in the labour force. The work participation ratio or
worker population ratio shows only those who are
employed as a proportion of the total population. Both
these measures reflect womens participation in
economic activity compared to that of men, if we get
gender specific data.
Gender equity assumes greater importance in
macroeconomic policies and programmes, if the link
between gender equity and the economic development
is established. The theories of economic development
have some specific implications to increased womens

participation in the labour force. The theory of Arthur

Lewis7 about development with unlimited supply of
labour, acknowledges womens un-tapped potential
labour supply for growth. In his own words, The
transfer of womens work from the household to
commercial employment is one of the most notable
features of economic development. It is not by all means
all gain, but the gain is substantial because what women
otherwise do in the household can in fact be done much
better and cheaply outside, due to the scale economies
and specialization and also use of capital and drudgery
reducing machinery. One of the surest ways of
increasing national income therefore is to create new
sources of employment for women outside the home.
The more recent experience of East Asian miracle also
shows that rising participation rates of women
contributed to the economic growth, especially the
export oriented economic growth8. Further, the decline
in fertility rates and the decline in dependency ratios
were a result of womens participation in the work force.
The participation of women in wage employment
outside the house led to many factors that positively
impacted on the economic growth of the nations. The
decline in fertility rates and dependency ratios were
shown as sources of huge savings and investment by
households that lead to economic growth in the East
Asian countries9.
However, typically the implication of the transfer
of womens labour into non market production is not
considered in the economic theory. Further in the
context of India, the womens labour is transferred to
family production and family enterprises. It represents
a situation where womens labour contributes
substantially to the GDP arising out of agriculture and
household industry. Unfortunately it is not being seen
as coming from women. Most of womens work in
family production is unpaid. In many instances women
have no control what so ever in the running of the farm
or enterprise or over the income generated. In the Indian
context, it has also been estimated that more than half
of womens work that contributes to GDP and
recognised under the international system of national
accounting (SNA) is unpaid work10(Table I).
Undoubtedly, womens contribution to family
production, may release the child labour to attend
school and the male labour from the family business
to paid employment outside the house. However, here
again there can be discrimination against girl child.
Girls may be kept at home either to help in household
work or for looking after the siblings. Thus there is

VEPA: GENDER EQUITY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

331

Table I. Weekly average time spent (in h) on crop production and other SNA activities
1

State

Crop
Prod.

Non crop
agri
activities

All agri
activities

Other
activities

All SNA
activities

% of
unpaid
work

% of
female
workers

Gujarat
Haryana
Madhya Pradesh
Meghalaya
Orissa
Tamil Nadu
Average

11.99
3.14
13.56
13.57
6.61
12.35
10.20

9.63
18.04
6.51
12.32
10.15
5.57
10.37

21.62
21.18
20.07
25.89
16.76
17.92
20.57

2.28
2.26
2.55
3.23
2.27
5.54
3.02

23.90
23.49
22.62
29.12
19.03
23.46
23.60

44.67
85.99
52.40
76.39
69.44
32.45
60.22

41.71
45.52
43.77
45.80
35.70
45.52
43.00

SNA, System of National Accounting

Sources: Columns 1-6 : Ref 10; Column 7 : Ref. 25
Table II. Labour force participation rate (LFPR), worker population ratio (WPR), proportion unemployed (PU) according to usual status
(ps+ss) All India
Male
Residence
Rural
Urban

Female

Person

LFPR

WPR

PU

LFPR

WPR

PU

LFPR

WPR

PU

555
570

546
549

9
22

333
178

327
166

6
12

446
382

439
365

7
17

Source: Ref. 12 (ps+ss)=Principal status + Subsidiary status (per thousand distribution of persons)

substantial positive impact of womens work

participation on the economic growth of the country.
However, from the womens and gender equity point
of view, the human enrichment of women may or may
not occur, especially when the work is unpaid work in
the self employed household. It may not translate into
more freedom for women and in decision making. The
argument about the transfer of womens labour into
the labour market to help economic growth neglects
the cost of transfer of women into the labour force.
Sometimes in the developing countries, the girl child
in the family pays the cost in terms of foregone
schooling. Often women bear the burden of additional
work.
Work participation by women outside the home in
very low paid unskilled jobs may not lead to economic
enrichment either. However, it puts income in the hands
of women. Earnings of her own and higher contribution
of women to the total household income are expected
to enhance the womens say in the household affairs.
However, how much say, a women has in the household
can vary across the households in the same region with
same total income. The share of income contributed to
the total income of the household is expected to
determine the position of women in the households11.
Given this scenario, mere work participation may not
give women any advantage.

Table III. LFPR, WPR according to usual status Principle and

subsidiary status (per 1000 distribution of persons) - India
Household
Male
Female
Person
social group
LFPR WPR LFPR WPR LFPR WPR
Rural :
Scheduled tribe
568 562 466 464 518 514
Scheduled caste
554 545 338 333 448 441
Other bakward classes 545 537 337 330 443 436
Others
568 557 270 262 422 412
All
555 546 333 327 446 439
Household
Male
Female
Person
social group
LFPR WPR LFPR WPR LFPR WPR
Urban:
Scheduled tribe
538 523 254 245 396 384
Scheduled caste
568 537 210 200 398 377
Other Bakward classes 573 554 199 185 394 378
Others
571 550 147 134 368 351
All
570 549 178 166 382 365
Source: Ref. 12

Work participation by women per se cannot be

considered as a mark of welfare of women for several
reasons. (i) Work participation probably is inversely
related to the family income level. Women in the poor
households work, whereas the women in the
economically better off households do not work. This
is clear from the urban rural work participation ratios
and work participation ratios across the caste groups.
More rural women in general and more women from
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC and ST) work
than the other caste groups12 . (Tables II and III).

332

INDIAN J MED RES, OCTOBER 2007

(ii) Women workers are mostly unpaid in the family

enterprises and underpaid and exploited in wage
employment. The work becomes stressful to women,
when added to the usual domestic household work
associated with cooking, cleaning and caring. Such work
burden may have harmful externalities on the overall
welfare of the women.
Nonetheless, despite all the limitations, work
participation continues to be considered as an
empowerment indicator as it makes women a rightful
contributor to the national income and not just a receiver
of welfare measures of government programmes, though
its impact on the well-being of the women herself is
not certain. Work participation ratios of women in India
show that the womens work participation is about 4360 per cent lower than that of men in rural India.
Both total WPR and LFPR do not distinguish
between the child labour and adult labour. Hence we
have separately considered the age specific work
participation ratios. Work participation in the age
group of 5-9 and 10-14 yr are considered separately
for boys and girls. Child labour has been declining
substantially but more girls in the age group of 10-14
yr are working than the boys of the same age group in
the rural areas. In contrast, there are more boys than
girls in the work force in urban areas in the same age
group. There are more girls in the tender ages of 5-9
yr working in urban areas. Probably little girls who
do not go to school go to work behind their mothers in
the urban areas, probably as domestic help 13
(Table IV).
Table IV. All India usual worker population ratio (principal &
subsidiary) in the age groups of 5-9 yr and 10-14 yr (per thousand)
1993-94
(NSS 50th round)
Male

2004-05
(NSS 61st Round)

Female

M/F

Male

Female

M/F

14
5

3
2

3
3

1
0.67

Age group 5-9 yr

Rural
Urban

11
5

Age group 10-14 yr

Rural

138

141

0.98

68

74

0.92

Urban

66

45

1.47

48

33

1.45

M/F= Male to female ratio

Sources: Ref. 13, 14

Unemployment, type of employment and wages

Unemployment: Unemployment as an indicator shows
proportion of the men and women unemployed to the
total number of women and men in the labour force.
Those who are not available for work are excluded from
this measure. The comparable data for India since 1972
show that unemployment keeps fluctuating from one
year to another based on a boom or slump in the
economic activity in the specific sectors. On the whole
the usual status unemployment is lower, which means
that very few would remain unemployed for most part
of the year. Yet, when we look at a week or a day, the
level of unemployment is very high. It only indicates
that people keep looking for work and move in and out
of the work force but they are not successful in getting
work when they want.
Unemployment is an important indicator of lack of
human welfare in developing countries such as India
where very few would get regular income streams.
Unemployment is also an indicator of poverty for the
rural and urban casual workers, but is not commonly
used in the human development studies. However, it
assumes importance in the context of structural change
that is taking place in the economy, where the unskilled
and uneducated would be marginalised and only those
with relevant skills are handsomely rewarded. As the
economy faces competition due to opening up to the
global competition, it becomes more efficient and
economic growth takes place. To gain efficiency in
production, workers are laid off. There is a squeeze in
employment. The gainers are the modern sector workers
and the skilled people and the losers are illiterate and
unskilled persons in the traditional sectors. The pertinent
question to be answered is who is more affected - men
or women. As it turns out women are facing higher levels
of unemployment especially in 2004-2005 compared
to men at the turn of the century. The gender gap in
unemployment has increased both in urban and rural
areas. As per the National Sample surveys, the
Unemployment Rate increased from 56 per thousand
in 1993-94 for both men and women to 80 for men and
87 for women in 2004-2005 (Table V)14.
Type of employment: The type of employment pursued
by men and women has also undergone a change over
the past decade. The recent report of the National
Sample survey of the 61st round provides some insights
in to this aspect. As per the report among rural women
self-employment increased faster than the selfemployment among rural men. In 2004-2005, higher
percentage of women are self-employed than men both

VEPA: GENDER EQUITY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Table V. Unemployment rates per 1000 persons in the labour force
NSS round
(Survey period)

us
(adj.)

Male
cws

cds

us
(adj.)

Female
cws

cds

Rural :
61st (2004-2005)
55th (1999-2000)
50th (1993-1994)
43rd (1987-1988)
38th (1983)
32nd (1977-1978)
27th (1972-1973)

16
17
14
18
14
13
12

38
39
31
42
37
36
30

80
72
56
46
75
71
68

18
10
9
24
7
20
5

42
37
29
44
43
41
55

87
70
56
67
90
92
112

Urban :
61st (2004-2005)
55th (1999-2000)
50th (1993-1994)
43rd (1987-1988)
38th (1983)
32nd (1977-1978)
27th (1972-1973)

38
45
41
52
51
54
48

52
56
52
66
67
71
60

75
73
67
88
92
94
80

69
57
61
62
49
124
60

90
73
79
92
75
109
92

116
94
104
120
110
145
137

Source: Ref 15

in rural and urban areas. Self-employed have increased

among women both in urban and rural areas. About
63.7 per cent of rural female workers and 44.8 per cent
of the urban female workers are virtually unpaid workers
in self-employment. Regular wage and salaried
employment is much higher for men than women. There
are only 3.7 per cent of female workers in regular
employment in rural areas. About 35.6 per cent of the
female workers in urban areas are regular employees.
Over the past decade, percentage of regular employment
slightly increased both for men and women in rural
areas. In urban areas, regular employment shrunk for
men and increased for women. Here women gained over
men. Probably the reason being the lower salaries to
women compared to men who are equally qualified in
regular employment.
The second largest type of employment is casual
work both in rural and urban areas. The percentage of
rural as well as urban casual labour employment has
come down both for men and women, signifying
probably the shrinking opportunities for unskilled
manual work. About 32.6 per cent of female workers in
rural India and about 16.7 per cent of the female workers
in urban India are casual labour. However, the shrinkage
for mens employment is smaller than that of females.
Casual employment share has declined by about 1 per
cent for men and by 6 per cent for women over a decade
from 1993-94 to 2003-04 in rural areas. In the urban
casual worker category also the casual female workers

333

share in the total workers declined by about 10 per cent

while the decline is less than 2 per cent for men16. The
rural distress may have made men to take up the casual
labour opportunities displacing women. Thus, the
category of employment available to women in rural
areas is self-employment and casual labour employment
(Table VI)17.
Wages: The next important issue for women is wage
discrimination in casual labour employment as well as
regular employment. National sample surveys also
provide some insights in to the situation. As per the
survey results, gender gap in earnings exists. The gender
gap is highest among the illiterates. The gap declines
as the education level improves up to higher secondary
and diploma and a certificate course. For graduates and
above, the gender gap again widens. The reason could
be occasional withdrawal of women from the labour
force for child bearing and child rearing and re-entering
the labour force with a break. But what is interesting to
note is that the gender gap in earning for regular wage
and salaried workers is the lowest for the diploma and
certificate holders both in rural and urban areas. Women
get 86-93 per cent of the mens salaries (Tables VII &
Table VI. All India - per thousand distribution of the employed
Usually employed - principal status+ subsidiary status

Rural
1993-1994
2004-2005
Urban
1993-1994
2004-2005
Source: Ref.

Self
(F-M) Regular
(F-M)
employed
employees
Male Female gap Male Female gap

Casual (F-M)
labour
Male Femalegap

577
581

586
637

9
56

85
90

27
37

338
329

387 49
326 -3

417
448
17

448
477

31
29

422
406

292 -130 161

356 -50 146

260 99
167 21

-58
-53

Table VII. Average wage/salary earnings Rupees/day for regular wage

and salaried employees of age 15-59 yr for different general education
levels - All India
General education
level
Not literate
Literate and up to
primary
Secondary &
higher secondary
Diploma/certificate
Graduate and above
All
Source: Ref. 18

Rural

Urban

Male

Female

Male

Female

72.47

35.74

98.79

48.7

98.59

47.75

111.44

64.79

158.04
214.38
270.02
144.93

100.19
200.4
172.7
85.53

182.58
274.87
366.76
203.28

150.41
237.02
269.17
153.19

334

INDIAN J MED RES, OCTOBER 2007

VIII)18. It shows that, for people with skills and right

qualifications that the market demands, the gender
difference are the lowest. In other words giving women
equal opportunity with men in education, training and
skills is more important to reduce the earnings gap.

Literacy rate21,22
Literacy rate differential alone is not a holistic
indicator of the gender gap especially if what is
measured is not functional literacy. Even when the wage
gap is lower for educated than illiterate, discrimination
in employment and growing unemployment of women
compared to men at higher levels of literacy widen the
gender gap in average earnings. Coupled with faster
wage growth of men at all levels of literacy on one hand
and the increased work burden of employed women on
the other gender gap in welfare widens. Hence it is
important to include other indicators of welfare
regarding literacy across all educational groups.
National sample surveys also provide us with data on
literacy. Literacy gap declined over a period from 19931994 to 2004-2005, between males and females in all
ages (Appendix 1).

The wage earnings are lower for females than males

in casual employment both on public works as well as
non public works, and wage gap between women and
men has increased over the years. The gender gap
widened for casual workers in rural areas both in public
works and non-public works despite the legislations of
minimum wage. Thus the women have lost out on casual
labour work as well as wages (Table IX)19.
Table VIII. Average per day earnings ratio of F/M in regular
employment (gender gap in earnings)
General education level

Rural
F/M ratio

Urban
F/M ratio

0.49
0.48
0.63
0.93
0.64
0.59

0.49
0.58
0.82
0.86
0.73
0.75

Not literate
Literate and up to primary
Secondary & higher secondary
Diploma/certificate
Graduate and above
All

It could be mostly due to the school enrolments and

school attendance of girls, the gap between adult
females and males is still very high, though the gap has
been reducing. This clearly points to the gender
discrimination in sending girls to school and retaining
them in school till they become literate. The literacy
gap is even higher among the various levels of
educational achievements of adult population and
almost double the number of males exists for the number
of females who attained education levels above primary
level. All the more demand driven education with
modern skills probably would put girls on par with boys
as seen in the reducing earning gap. It is necessary to
concentrate on functional education rather than mere
literacy of females.

Soruce: Based on Table VII

Table IX. Average daily wages (in Rupees) for workers of age
15-59 yr
Year

Rural casual workers

Rural casual workers
engaged in Public Works engaged in Works other
than Public Works
Male
Female
Male
Female

61st Round
(2004-2005)
55th Round
(1999-2000)

65.33

49.19
(0.75)
38.06
(0.79)

48.14

55.03
44.84

34.94
(0.63)
39.64
(0.88)

The National sample survey data on school

attendance over the past decade show an impressive
reduction in gender gap both in rural and urban areas,
more so in urban areas. The gap has declined from 0.79
to 0.92 in rural area and from 0.95 to 0.99 in urban

Source: Ref. 19, 20

Figures in parentheses indicate female wages as a proporation of
male wages

Appendix 1. Per 1000 distribution of persons of age 15 yr and above by level of education - All India
Level of education

Rural
NSS 50th Round NSS 52nd Round
1993-94
1995-96

Illiterates
Literates
Literate & up to primary level
Middel level
Secoundary & above level
Source: Ref. 21 & 22

Urban
NSS 61st Round NSS 50th Round NSS 52nd Round
2004-05
1993-94
1995-96

NSS 61st Round

2004-05

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

411
589
276
154
157

708
292
166
73
53

394
606
279
168
159

683
317
170
87
60

320
680
277
191
210

585
415
199
113
102

162
838
233
184
419

363
637
216
143
277

143
857
221
206
430

327
673
210
171
292

121
879
202
194
482

279
721
197
168
356

VEPA: GENDER EQUITY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

areas from 1993-1994 to 2004-2005. However, data on

functional literacy and the school dropout ratios are not
available for the two periods of time: School attendance
is also considered as an important indicator of human
development.
Adult literacy as an indicator of gender gap is very
important, as it has a number of advantages for the
women themselves as well as the well-being of the entire
population. Unlike the work participation ratios, which
may not give direct benefit to women, literacy rates
improve the quality of life of women. Literacy and
education increases their awareness as to the
opportunities and rights and freedoms. Even if literacy
does not translate into higher earnings for women, it
has definite advantages. Reduction in infant and child
mortality and better health care and nutrition to the
children are some of the well documented positive
impacts. Higher education of female population is said
to be responsible for better health facilities in Kerala
that can be attributed to the awareness and availing of
the existing facilities23. This is one area in which steady
progress has been made. However if literacy is not
accompanied by the improvement in the basic
government infrastructure of health, education, jobs,
food and nutrition and other social benefits to the needy,
and accompanied by deteriorating quality of public
provisioning, it leads to frustration and misguides youth.
Literacy is the very first step to human well-being but
not an end in itself.
Life expectancy, infant mortality rates and sex ratio
Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are the
most popular indicators of health status of the
population and human development. Ultimately the aim
is just not living but leading a healthy and least stressful
life. Let us look at some other indicators of health to
show that gender gap exists in general.
While statistics could not capture the gender gap
in food intake, the gender gap in nutritional outcome
such as body mass index (BMI) clearly shows that
discrimination exists. The intra-household inequality
in food intake both in quantity and quality is reflected
in BMI and anaemia. The National Nutrition Monitoring
Bureau (NNMB) data have shown that the percentage
of women with low BMI (below 18.5) was higher at
38.9 per cent compared to men with low BMI at
36.6 per cent24. The National Family Health Survey
(NFHS-3) data, in 2005-2006, showed that in all the
States, the percentage of women with low BMI were
higher than men with low BMI. The NFHS data also

335

Table X. Rate of hospitalization/100000 during last 365 days in

2004 - All India (Persons)

Rural
Urban
Total (Rural + Urban)

Females

Males

2479
3456
2722

2715
3505
2919

Source: Ref . 26

show that far higher percentage of women are anaemic

than men in the age group of 15-59 yr in all the 22
States for which data are available25.
The National Sample Survey (NSS) data on
morbidity and hospitalization have shown that on the
whole more men get hospital care than women. The
gap is higher in rural areas than urban areas. The age
composition of the hospitalized persons and the reasons
for hospitalization data showed that in the case of
women the only predominant reason for hospitalization
was related to gynaecological and obstetric problems
including child birth. For other types of ailments to
which women are equally vulnerable, hospitalization
rates were very low. Gender discrimination seems to
be particularly high for the age group above 60 yr26.
Given this overall background of discrimination in
health care, the ultimate outcome such as Life
expectancy is expected to be low. Overall, the life
expectancy by it self is rather low for both for men and
women in India. However, life expectancy of women is
increasing compared to men. For several decades in
India, the life expectancy of women was lower than
that of men, though women live longer than men do in
the developed countries. Women are expected to live 4
to 6 yr longer than men do in societies with little or no
gender bias in health care and nutrition27. In recognition
of this fact the Global gender gap report of the world
Economic forum, uses higher life expectancy as natural
normal for women. In India, as per the data provided
by the registrar General of India, since eighties, the life
expectancy of women started exceeding that of men.
The life expectancy in rural areas was only two years
higher for women than that of men on the average. In
urban India, it is about 3 yr. This has happened for two
reasons. First, there is some element of better nutrition
and public and private health care to all. Secondly, the
average life expectancy increased as the population
composition tilted towards older age groups with low
birth rates and low death rates. No doubt, the gain in
life expectancy particularly the reversal of trend in the
average life span of women exceeding that of men is a

336

INDIAN J MED RES, OCTOBER 2007

Table XI. Expectation of life at age 1 in yr by sex and residence-All

India (1970-1975 to 1999-2003)
Period

1970-1975
1776-1980
1981-1985
1986-1990
1987-1991
1988-1992
1989-1993
1990-1994
1991-1995
1992-1996
1993-1997
1994-1998
1995-1999
1996-2000
1997-2001
1998-2002
1999-2003

Mid
year

1973
1978
1983
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001

Rural

Urban

Total

Male Female Total

Male Female

54.9
57.4
59.6
61.3
61.8
62.1
62.5
63.0
63.4
63.9
64.4
64.6
64.7
64.8
65.0
65.2
65.4

55.8
57.6
59.8
61.4
61.7
61.9
62.3
62.7
63.0
63.4
63.7
63.8
63.9
63.9
64.0
64.2
64.3

63.1
63.4
64.9
65.1
65.3
65.5
66.2
66.8
67.2
67.5
67.7
67.7
67.8
67.9
68.1
68.3
68.6

54.1
57.3
59.4
61.4
61.9
62.0
62.5
63.1
63.8
64.4
64.8
65.0
65.4
65.5
65.7
65.8
66.1

63.3
64.0
66.0
66.3
66.3
66.7
67.4
68.0
68.6
68.9
69.2
69.2
69.4
69.5
69.7
70.0
70.2

63.5
64.7
67.3
67.6
67.9
68.0
68.8
69.3
69.9
70.3
70.5
70.6
70.8
70.9
71.2
71.2
71.5

females becomes obvious if we look at the 0-6 sex

ratio. No doubt left to nature the sex at birth would be
tilted towards boys27. All the same, the actual sex ratio
of children between 0-6 is far from the expected level
in India as per the census 2001. It may be considered
as a health indicator, as the slim chances of the girl
survival make the child sex ratio lower than what is
expected. The major reason for the low child sex ratio
is abortion of the female foetus and discrimination
against girl child that leads to higher mortality rates.
Infant mortality rates are also high for girls compared
to boys as per the Sample registration surveys of the
Registrar general of census. Infant mortality rates are
also an important indicator of gender discrimination
and hence included in the Index. The infant mortality
rates are still very high for rural India. Number of
deaths of female infants in the age group of 0-1 are at
66.0 deaths per thousand live births in rural areas and
43.0 deaths per thousand in urban areas in 2005. The
male infant deaths are lower at 62 per thousand in rural
areas and 37 per thousand in urban areas in 200529.

Source: Ref. 28

Indicators chosen to represent the gender gap

remarkable achievement. All the same, in some states
such as Bihar, the female life expectancy is lower than
that of men28 (Table XI).
However, in the authors calculations, the life
expectancy has been left without adjustment to the
natural normal for women. Further, in this article, we
have used the life expectancy at age one, and not at age
zero, as we have considered the infant mortality rates
as an important indicator.
More importantly, the composition of Indian
population is slowly tilting towards the higher age
groups of men and women. Once women survive
beyond the critical age of maternity they live longer.
It is the changing age composition of the population,
with fewer births than before and longer life span that
the sex ratio of the total population improved.
Improving total sex ratio is deceptive and does not
show any preference for females. There was no special
measure taken to ensure health of women and children.
The strong boy preference makes the juvenile (0-6)
sex ratio adverse to girls. Thus, the next important
issue is the neglect of girl child, both infants and older
children in terms of nutrition and health care and
preference for boys. In India, it is reaching alarming
proportions in the prosperous states as per the census
2001. The juvenile sex ratio has deteriorated both in
urban and rural areas. The discrimination against

It is true that the very basic indicators at the average

level such as life expectancy and literacy of younger
generation show an improvement both for males and
females. However a number of other hidden inequities
influence the quality of life. One can expect a gender
gap to decline in respect of school attendance and life
expectancy and work force participation, and yet the lives
of women could be worse off than before in many other
ways. Thus other indicators have been included which
probe deeper and bring out the human endowments that
make a difference to the lives of people such as adult
illiteracy, problems of unemployment, type of
employment available, wages paid, child labour and child
survival and child preference that discriminates the girl
child. The choice of indicators was restricted by the
availability of gender disaggregated information at two
time points in nineties and twenties. The aim is to observe
the changes over the period to conclude whether the
overall gender gap is increasing or declining. The
indicators used in this study to compute the gender gap
Index include (i) Workforce participation ratio and labour
force participation ratios, (ii) Incidence of unemployment,
(iii) type of employment held, (iv) Wage rates for
casual employment, (v) Levels of literacy of adults and
children, (vi) Life expectancy at age one, (vii) Infant
mortality rates, and (viii) Juvenile sex ratio. These
indicators are combined for sub-indices. Seven subindices are calculated to capture the gender gap

VEPA: GENDER EQUITY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

(i) Literacy index, with literacy rates at various

educational levels and school attendance ratios, (ii)
Adult illiteracy index that gives the incidence of
illiteracy among adult men and women above the age
of fifteen, (iii) Work participation index of all the three
types of worker population ratios, (iv) Unemployment
index with the three types of unemployment of usual
status, weekly status and daily status, (v) Employment
quality index with persons holding regular employment
and wages for casual workers, (vi) Child labour index
that combines the child labour in the two age groups of
5-10 and 10-14 yr, and (vii) Health index consisting of
child survival and life expectancy. Child survival has
two components of juvenile sex ratio and infant
mortality. The final gender gap index presented in this
article has been calculated for two points of time, in
the nineties and twenties.
Gender equality index: Methods of computation
The gender related development is nothing but the
harmonic mean of the three main indicators of life
expectancy at birth, educational attainment (adult literacy
rate and school enrolments of children in primary and
secondary levels) and estimated earnings adjusted for
purchasing power parity. Separate indices are calculated
for women and men and ultimately a harmonic mean of
the male and female index is taken to compute the gender
related development Index. The gender Empowerment
index consists of a weighted average of the equally
distributed equivalent percentage of the three chosen
indicates2. The Global Gender Gap Report 2006 by the
World Economic Forums gender gap Index unlike the
gender related development index of the UNDP, is a
weighted index. The weights are determined by the
slandered deviation of various indicators used. The data
are first converted into female to male ratios. Then the
equality bench mark was set at one for all the indicators
except for life expectancy which is set at 1.06 and sex
ratio at birth is set at 0.944. Finally a weighted average
is calculated giving weights in the proportion of the
standard deviations of the series. Indicators with smaller
variation are given larger weights and indictors with
larger variations are given smaller weights4.
The National Human development report of India
has calculated gender disparity Index. The final index
is weighted average of the indicators life expectancy
and school attendance getting higher weight than infant
mortality rates and adult literacy. Due to the higher
weight given to the indicators that show improvement,
the overall gender disparity index show improvement.

337

Method of calculating the Gender gap Index

The chosen indicators on men and women are used
to calculate gender gap ratios, by mostly expressing the
achievement of women as a proportion of men. However
in the case of some indicators such as unemployment
and infant mortality that represent a higher percentage
as a worse of condition, male to female ratio is
calculated so that uniformly the gender gap ratios come
on a scale of zero to one and any number closer to zero
is lower than any number closer to one. All the indicators
are thus made unidirectional.
Then the next step was to combine these indicators
into six sub indicators. The urban and rural indicators
were different. Wage gap could not be calculated for
the urban areas due to the paucity of data. Uniform data
are not available for two points of time for many other
important indicators. Hence we only chose indicator,
which represents the situation of nineties, pertaining to
time periods between 1991- 1999. Effort has been made
to get the data for mid nineties such as 1993-94 and the
mid twenties such as 2004-05 for comparable data sets.
Wherever it was not possible to get either, 1991 or 1999
data has been used.
Appendices 2 and 3 gives the indicators and sub
indices calculated separately for urban and rural areas
of the country. A simple average of the gender gap
indicators is used to get the sub indices. There are 6
sub indices for urban India and seven sub- indices for
rural India. Wage gap index on non public works is
available at two points of time for rural areas but not
available at two points of time for urban areas. The sub
indices calculated and the indicators used are given in
the Appendices 2 and 3. The final gender equality index
is nothing but a simple average of all the gender gap
indices. The final Gender Equality Index for India
calculated for mid nineties and mid twenties shows a
widening of the gender gap over a period both in rural
and urban areas (Table XII). The rural index declined
from 0.78 to 0.77 and urban gender gap index
deteriorated from 0.81 to 0.76. Out of the six indices
literacy and child labour are the only indices that have
improved over a time. All the others have deteriorated
leading to the decline in the gender equity index.
Increasing gender inequity and implications to policy
This widening gender gap in India has many policy
implications. All the indicators that have been
deteriorating over a period of time for several reasons
need to be improved. The indicators that have

338

INDIAN J MED RES, OCTOBER 2007

Appendix 2. Indicators and sub-indices of gender gap index-All India - Rural
NSS 50th Round

Indicator

1993-94
M

Current schoool attendance/1000(5-14 yr)

703
Literates level of education (15 yr & above)
589
Illiterates level of education (15 yr & above) M/F
411
Literacy Sub-index - 1
Literacy Sub-index - 2
Unemployment rates usual (ps)M/F
20
Unemployment rates usual (adj.)M/F
14
Unemployment rates (CWS)M/F
31
Unemployment rates (CDS)M/F
56
Unemployment Sub-index
Work population ratio (usual) (ps+ss)
553
Work population ratio (CWS)
531
Work population ratio (CDS)
504
WPR Sub-index
LFPR usual (ps)
549
LFPR usual (ps+ss)
561
LFPR (CWS)
547
LFPR (CDS)
534
LFPR Sub-index
Child labour (5-9 yr) (p+ss) (M/F)
11
Child labour (10-14 yr) (p+ss) (M/F)
138
Child labour sub-index
Regular employment/1000
85
Average daily wages (casual
48.14
workers in public works) (2000)
Average daily wages (casual workers engaged
44.84
in works other than public works) (2000)
Regular emp. & wages sub-index
Sex ratio (0-6 population) (1991 & 2001)
Infant mortality rate (2000 & 2005) (M/F)
72.40
(1992-96 & 1999-03)
Life expectancy at age one (1992-1996 & 1999-2003) 63.40
Health Sub-index

Rural

Sub-

F/M

554
292
708

0.79
0.50
0.58

index

2004-05
M

835
680
320

767
415
585

SubF/M index
0.92
0.61
0.55

0.64
0.62
13
9
29
56

1.54
1.56
1.07
1.00

328
267
219

0.59
0.50
0.43

237
330
276
232

0.43
0.59
0.50
0.43

14
141

0.79
0.98

27
38.06

0.76
0.69
21
16
38
80

31
18
42
87

0.68
0.89
0.90
0.92

546
524
488

327
275
216

0.60
0.52
0.44

546
555
545
531

249
333
287
237

0.46
0.60
0.53
0.45

3
68

3
74

1.00
0.92

0.32
0.79

90
65.33

37
49.19

0.41
0.75

29.01

0.65

55.03

34.94

0.63

75.60

0.948
0.96

62

66

0.934
0.94

64.40

1.02

64.3

66.1

1.03

1.21

0.90

0.51

0.52

0.51

0.52

0.88

0.96

0.48

Table XII. All India gender gap index - Rural and Urban

Indicators

NSS 61st Round

Urban

199320041993- 20041994
2005
1994
2005
Sub-index Sub-index Sub-index Sub-index

Literacy sub-index-1
0.64
0.76
0.85
0.90
Unemployment
sub-index
1.21
0.90
0.66
0.59
Worker Population
sub-index
0.51
0.52
0.27
0.28
Child Labour sub-index 0.88
0.96
1.23
1.06
Regular emp.wages
sub-index
0.60
0.52

Health sub-index
0.98
0.97
1.02
0.95
Gender gap-index
0.78
0.77
0.81
0.76
Source: Calculations are based on the data given in Appendixes 2
and 3

0.97

0.52

0.97

deteriorated over a period of the past ten years are the

rising unemployment among women in the rural areas,
wages infant mortality rates and gender gap in juvenile
sex ratio. The reason for the overall fall in the gender
equality index is that as against the indicators that have
shown deterioration, the improvements have been very
modest in life expectancy and work participation ratios.
As far as the rural areas are concerned, the problem is
unequal burden of rural distress falling on women.
Urgent policy measures are needed to ensure that the
wage equality and creation of livelihood opportunities
for women in future are on par with men. It means that
women should have access not only to food and better
nutrition and health care but also to the resources
complementary to labour to make self employment
more remunerative to women. Another most important

VEPA: GENDER EQUITY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

339

Appendix 3. Indicators and sub-indices of gender gap index-All India - Urban

NSS 50th Round
Indicator
Current school attendance/1000(5-14 yr)
Literates/1000 (15 yr & above)
Illiterates/1000 (15 yr & above) M/F
Literacy Sub-index - 1
Literacy Sub-index - 2
Unemployment rates usual (ps) M/F
Unemployment rates usual (adj.) M/F
Unemployment rates (CWS) M/F
Unemployment rates (CDS)M/F
Unemployment Sub-index
Work population ratio (usual) (ps+ss)
Work population ratio (CWS)
Work population ratio (CDS)
WPR Sub-index
LFPR usual (ps)
LFPR usual (ps+ss)
LFPR (CWS)
LFPR (CDS)
LFPR Sub-index
Child labour (5-9 yr) (p+ss) (M/F)
Child labour (10-14 yr) (p+ss) (M/F)
Child labour sub-index
Regular employment/1000
Sex ratio (0-6 population) (1991 & 2001)
Infant mortality rate (2000 & 2005) (M/F)
Life expectancy at age one (1992-1996 & 1999-2003)
Health Sub-index

NSS 61st Round

1993-94

Sub-

F/M

845
838
162

800
637
363

0.95
0.76
0.45

index

2004-05
M

890
879
121

879
721
279

SubF/M index
0.99
0.82
0.43

0.85
0.72
54
41
52
67

83
61
79
104

0.65
0.67
0.66
0.64

521
511
496

155
139
120

0.30
0.27
0.24

538
543
538
532

132
165
152
132

0.25
0.30
0.28
0.25

5
66

5
45

1.00
1.47

422

292

44.7
67.5

42.3
70.3

0.69
0.935
1.06
1.04

0.90
0.75
44
38
52
75

91
69
90
116

0.48
0.55
0.58
0.65

549
537
519

166
152
133

0.30
0.28
0.26

566
570
566
561

148
178
168
150

0.26
0.31
0.30
0.27

2
48

3
33

0.67
1.45

406

356

37.0
68.6

43.0
71.5

0.88
0.903
0.86
1.04

0.66

0.59

0.27

0.28

0.28

0.29

1.23

indicator is the deteriorating sex ratio which has the

prosperity impact on it. The more educated and the more
well off a family is the lower would be the preference
for girls30. This preference for boys even by the mothers
is often termed as unfortunate and lack of concern for
their own sex or irrational behaviour27. Unless women
have their own assets and earnings right into the old
age and ensured of a secure life without exploitation,
the bias towards a male child may continue. The bias
gets considerably weakened as financial independence
of women increases.
The urban indicators show more or less a similar
trend. Adult literacy and child enrolments, and regular
employment have shown declining gender gaps. Work
participation ratio has shown a very slight improvement
and life expectancy differential remained unchanged.
All the other indicators of gender gap in unemployment,
child labour, infant mortality, juvenile sex ratios have
given an evidence of widening. Hence the overall gender
equality index declined from 0.81 to 0.76. There is an

1.06

1.01

0.94

evidence of lack of employment opportunities to less

qualified and women who could not get regular
employment. Education and health are the key issues
in urban areas. Preference for boys is much forcefully
expressed in urban societies than rural societies.
It is thus quite unfortunate that the gender gap is
widening in the past decade and gender discrimination
against women has been increasing. Gender dimension
is one of the most neglected dimensions of economic
growth in the country at the turn of the century. Both
structural adjustment in the economy due to reforms
and withdrawal of the government from providing basic
services were responsible for the widening gender gap
in welfare.
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Reprint requests: Dr Swarna S. Vepa, Ford Foundation Chair for Women & Sustainable Food Security, M.S. Swaminathan
Research Foundation, Taramani Institutional Area, Chennai 600113, India
e-mail: [email protected]