Gender Inequality Index 2022

Gender Inequality Index 2022

News: Recently, The Gender Inequality Index 2022 has been released by UNDP in their Human Development Report 2023/2024.

About:
 GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions:
o Reproductive health
o empowerment and
o Labour market. 
 A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.

Key Findings:
 Denmark topped the index followed by Norway, Switzerland and Sweden.
 India has registered a significant jump of 14 ranks in Gender Inequality Index 2022.
o It ranked 108 out of 193 countries with a score of 0.437 in GII 2022.
o In 2022, India saw improvements across all HDI indicators — life expectancy, education, and gross national income (GNI) per capita and life expectancy rose from 67.2 to 67.7 years, expected years of schooling reached 12.6, mean years of schooling increased to 6.57 and GNI per capita saw an increase from USD 6,542 to USD 6,951.

India’s improvement:
 Over the last 10 years, India’s rank in GII has become consistently better, indicating progressive improvement in achieving gender equality in the country.
 India’s adolescent birth rate in 2022 was 16.3 (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19), an improvement from 17.1 in 2021.
 However, the country still has one of the largest gender gaps in its labour force participation rate — a 47.8% difference between women (28.3 %) and men (76.1 %).

Which initiatives have helped India improve its position?
 Code on Social Security, 2020: Provisions for women’s social security across various aspects.
 Mission Shakti: Self-help mission for empowering women through promotion of Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) to take up various socio-economic activities.
 Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, reservations and legislative policies etc.