Gender Inequality Index

Also called: GII · Topic: Measuring Development: Income, HDI and Sustainability · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) is a UNDP index that measures how much a country loses in human development because women and men are not treated equally. It runs from 0 (full equality) to 1, and a higher value means more inequality.

It matters because the HDI (Human Development Index) is a national average and cannot show how women fare compared with men. The GII looks at three areas where women are held back: health during pregnancy, power in society and access to paid work.

Explanation

How it is built: 3 dimensions, 5 indicators

UNDP introduced the GII in 2010. It has 3 dimensions and 5 indicators:

• Reproductive health. These two indicators are measured for women only:
• Maternal mortality ratio (MMR): the number of mothers who die from causes linked to pregnancy, per 1 lakh live births.

• Adolescent birth rate: births per 1,000 women aged 15–19.

• Empowerment. These compare women with men:

• Share of parliamentary seats held by each sex.

• Population with at least some secondary education, female vs male.

• Labour market. This compares women with men:

• Labour force participation rate (LFPR): the share of working-age people who are working or looking for work.

How to read the number

• The GII shows the loss in achievement caused by gender inequality.
• 0 means women and men do equally well, so nothing is lost.
• The closer the value is to 1, the more a country loses because women fall behind.
• Worked example (India):
• India's GII is about 0.40 (HDR 2025).
• Read simply, gender inequality cuts India's possible achievement in these three areas by about 40%.
• A country with a GII of 0 would lose nothing.

What makes it rise or fall

• The GII falls (improves) when:
• fewer mothers die in childbirth, so MMR falls;
• fewer teenage girls give birth;
• more women win seats in Parliament;
• more girls complete secondary school, closing the gap with boys;

• more women join the labour force.

• The GII rises (gets worse) when any of these gaps grow.

• A chain to remember:
• Female LFPR stays low → women earn and decide less → the labour-market gap stays wide → the GII stays high.

Why the reproductive health dimension is different

• MMR and adolescent birth rate have no male version. Men cannot die in childbirth.
• So in this dimension, women's outcomes are compared with an ideal level, not with men.
• This is why the GII measures disadvantage and does not simply compare achievements.

In India

• Latest value: GII about 0.40, rank about 102 (HDR 2025). UNDP publishes it in the Human Development Report.
• Indian data behind the indicators:
• MMR (measured by the Sample Registration System) fell from 130 (2014–16) to 93 (2019–21) per lakh live births [4]. This helps the reproductive health dimension.
• Female LFPR (age 15+, usual status, measured by the Periodic Labour Force Survey, PLFS) rose from 37.0% (2022–23) to 41.7% (2023–24) [5].

• Parliament: 75 women were elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024, about 14% of 543 seats [2][3].

• Where India lags most: UNDP says female LFPR and political representation are India's weakest areas [1].

• Law that bears on the index:
• The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies, including Delhi's, on a rotating basis [2].

• UNDP says this "offers promise" for the empowerment dimension [1].

• Context: India's HDI is 0.685 (2023 data, HDR 2025), rank 130 of 193 [1]. UNDP notes that India's income and gender gaps are still large [1].

Don't confuse with

• Gender Development Index (GDI): this is female HDI ÷ male HDI, and 1 = parity. India's GDI is about 0.87. In the GII, 0 is ideal and higher is worse. The GDI compares achievements. The GII measures disadvantage and includes women-only health indicators.
• Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI): this cuts the HDI for inequality among all people (using the Atkinson measure). India loses 30.7% (HDR 2025) [1]. It does not look at gender. The GII looks only at gaps between women and men.
• Global Gender Gap Index (World Economic Forum): this is a different organisation's index, and on it a higher score is better (1 = parity). The GII is UNDP's index, and there a higher score is worse.
• Infant mortality rate (IMR): this is not a GII indicator. The GII uses the maternal mortality ratio (deaths of mothers), not deaths of babies.

Prelims Hooks

• GII (UNDP, 2010): runs from 0 to 1. 0 = full equality, higher = worse.
• 3 dimensions and 5 indicators: reproductive health (MMR, adolescent birth rate), empowerment (parliamentary seats, at least some secondary education) and labour market (LFPR).
• Trap: MMR and adolescent birth rate are measured for women only. The other three indicators compare women with men.
• Trap: in the GDI, a value near 1 is good. In the GII, a value near 0 is good. A GII rising from 0.40 means India is doing worse.
• India: GII about 0.40, rank about 102 (HDR 2025). MMR is 93 (2019–21) [4] and female LFPR is 41.7% (2023–24) [5].
• The 106th Constitutional Amendment (2023), the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserves one-third of Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats for women [2]. It bears on the GII's "parliamentary seats" indicator.

Mains Points

• Gender is a development bottleneck (GS-III):
• India has made real health gains. MMR fell from 130 (2014–16) to 93 (2019–21) [4].
• But low female LFPR (41.7%, 2023–24) [5] and few women MPs (75 in 2024) [2][3] keep the GII high at about 0.40.

• Growth that leaves out women wastes half the workforce. Jobs for women, skilling and safe workplaces are both a growth policy and an equality policy.

• Political representation and the 106th Amendment (GS-II):

• UNDP names political representation as one of India's weakest areas [1].
• Once the one-third reservation is implemented, the empowerment dimension could improve [1][2].

• But seats alone are not enough. Real change also needs more girls finishing secondary school and more women in paid work.

• Why one index is not enough:

• India's HDI of 0.685 [1] hides gender gaps.
• A good answer reads the HDI together with the GII, GDI and IHDI to show whether gains reach women.

Related concepts

• Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index
• Gender Development Index
• Liberty indicators
• Physical Quality of Life Index

Read more

• The HDR family of indices and the liberty critique