Human Development Report 2010 Some insights from the new Gender Inequality Index Jeni Klugman, Director, Human Develo

1. Human Development Report 2010 – Some insights from the new Gender Inequality IndexJeni Klugman,Director, Human Development Report Office, UNDPBuilding Better: Gender & Human Development in Asia 27 January 2011

2. What is human development? “Human development is the expansion of people’s freedoms to live long, healthy and creative lives; to advance other goals they have reason to value; and to engage actively in shaping development equitably and sustainably on a shared planet. People are both the beneficiaries and drivers of human development, as individuals and in groups.” (HDR, 2010)

4. 40 years of progress

5. What about missing dimensions? The HDI “captures a few of people’s choices and leaves out many that people may value highly – economic, social and political freedom, and protection against violence, insecurity and discrimination, to name but a few.” (HDR1990) (MDGs face similar criticisms) New measures for assessing inequality and multiple dimensions of poverty, building on better data and advances in methods Inequality adjusted HDI Gender Inequality Index Multidimensional Poverty Index 5

6. Gender Inequality Index Reflects inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions – measured against normative ideals in each dimension Significant data constraints affected the choice of indicators – these data allow application to 138 countries around the world ? Interpretation: loss to potential HD due to shortfalls in reproductive health, empowerment and labor market participation (but not HDI loss).

7. Gender Inequality Index: method

8. Gender Inequality Index - Results

9. Mapping the results

10. Significant variation by region and dimension 

11. South Asia

12. East Asia and Pacific

13. Correlations with overall HDI

14. Correlation with inequality

15. Insights and policy relevance Shines the light on the combined disadvantages facing women in health, empowerment and labour market Allows cross country comparisons of key gender disadvantages Component indicators highlight areas in need of critical policy intervention eg maternal mortality Can be decomposed to examine the elements, and follow up eg women’s labour force participation rate still only around 60% of men’s and global average for women in parliament only 16% Stimulates debate about the systematic disadvantages of women. media coverage

16. Selected Media Headlines India is worse than Pakistan on gender equality - “India has made it to the top 10 countries recording exemplary economic growth, but its story is marred by appalling levels of gender inequality” The Times of India, Nov 2010 At the bottom of the barrel - “With women at such a low priority level, is it surprising that we languish below on other indicators too?” Hindustan Times, Nov 2010 India’s poor development record - “The gender inequality index is self-evident and underlines the idea that gender inequality lies at the core of a group’s overall level of deprivation.” Business Standard, Nov 2010 Analyzing Pakistan’s human development ranking – “One issue which needs particular attention is the status of women in the country.” The Express Tribune, Nov 2010 Meeting the Asian Development Challenge - “Inequality for women remains a major barrier to human development throughout Asia” Bangkok Post, Dec 2010 Japan’s Gender Gap - “Japan is likely to sink deeper into stagnation unless society can change in a way that makes it easier for women to play a greater role” Editorial, Kyoto News, Dec 2010 The Times of India article states that “although Pakistan may be in the news for its treatment of women and might have become a hot bed for international women's activism, it certainly seems to know how to take care of its mothers better. On maternal mortality, India -- with its abysmal record -- trails Pakistan…. The other area where India needs to do better is at the level of Parliamentary participation. India, the reports states, stands out as an exception where 30% local government seats are reserved for women. However, participation at this level has not been incorporated in the report. If India wants to fare better on this front, then Congress and President Sonia Gandhi will have to keep her promise of ensuring reservation for women in Parliament and the legislative assemblies.” The Times of India article states that “although Pakistan may be in the news for its treatment of women and might have become a hot bed for international women's activism, it certainly seems to know how to take care of its mothers better. On maternal mortality, India -- with its abysmal record -- trails Pakistan…. The other area where India needs to do better is at the level of Parliamentary participation. India, the reports states, stands out as an exception where 30% local government seats are reserved for women. However, participation at this level has not been incorporated in the report. If India wants to fare better on this front, then Congress and President Sonia Gandhi will have to keep her promise of ensuring reservation for women in Parliament and the legislative assemblies.”

17. GII advantages relative to other indices Holistic and integrated view: includes reproductive health and empowerment Method penalises overlapping inequalities, and does not allow for substitution Improvement over GDI and GEM. GDI could not be interpreted independently of HDI – so low HDI countries did worse – this is not now necessarily the case – eg Burundi ranks 166 on HDI , 79 on GII Viet Nam ranks 113 on HDI and 58 on GII. Still data constrained – but avoids the weakest data. GDI and GEM relied on income measures (estimated for ¾ of countries in the sample) eg Qatar and Saudi Arabia lose 47 and 39 places respectively from GDI, as observed participation rates are used instead of assumed income ratios Conversely, The US ranks 4 on HDI and 37 on GIIand Qatar ranks 38th on HDI and 94 on GII. Also, Moldova would lose 31 places and Vietnam 23 places on the GDI as compared to the GII. Conversely, The US ranks 4 on HDI and 37 on GIIand Qatar ranks 38th on HDI and 94 on GII. Also, Moldova would lose 31 places and Vietnam 23 places on the GDI as compared to the GII.

18. Comparing GII with alternate indices Other indices include: Relative Status of Women Index – Dijkstra and Hammer (2000) African Gender and Development Index - UNECA (2004) Gender Equality Index - Social Watch (2005) Gender Gap Index - World Economic Forum (2006) Because underlying frameworks differ, so too do results Some provide useful complementary findings on the institutions that influence gendered outcomes Such as OECD’s 2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index and EIU’s 2010 Women’s Economic Opportunity Index -Gender Equality Index - measures gender equity in education, economic participation and empowerment. But unlike GII which shows loss to potential HD, GEI only allows for comparison of inequality between countries not absolute levels within countries. Top and bottom ranked countries are similar across GEI and GII, but differences include Rwanda ranks 5 on GEI and 83 on GII, Philippines ranked 13 on GEI and 78th on GII. Differences appear largely due to inclusion of reproductive health in the GII. Gender Gap Index –economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, education attainment and health & well being – measures gender gaps but not absolute achievements. Differences include Lesotho in 8th position of 128 (ranked 102 on GII) and is ahead of the US, Switzerland and Spain, despite almost 1/10 women dying in child birth and only ¼ having secondary education. And South Africa ranks 12 (as compared to 82nd), despite the fact that only 50% of women participate in labour market and 1/250 will die in child birth. Social Institutions and Gender Index – focused on institutions that influence gendered outcomes – a useful complement in order to track reforms of social institutions and their affects on gender based inequalities as measured by the GII. Top 5 countries (out of 102 non-OECD countries) suffering least discrimination in social institutions were Paraguay (85th on GII), Croatia (30th on GII), Kazakhstan (67th on GII), Argentina (60th on GII) and Costa Rica (51st on GII). -Gender Equality Index - measures gender equity in education, economic participation and empowerment. But unlike GII which shows loss to potential HD, GEI only allows for comparison of inequality between countries not absolute levels within countries. Top and bottom ranked countries are similar across GEI and GII, but differences include Rwanda ranks 5 on GEI and 83 on GII, Philippines ranked 13 on GEI and 78th on GII. Differences appear largely due to inclusion of reproductive health in the GII. Gender Gap Index –economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, education attainment and health & well being – measures gender gaps but not absolute achievements. Differences include Lesotho in 8th position of 128 (ranked 102 on GII) and is ahead of the US, Switzerland and Spain, despite almost 1/10 women dying in child birth and only ¼ having secondary education. And South Africa ranks 12 (as compared to 82nd), despite the fact that only 50% of women participate in labour market and 1/250 will die in child birth. Social Institutions and Gender Index – focused on institutions that influence gendered outcomes – a useful complement in order to track reforms of social institutions and their affects on gender based inequalities as measured by the GII. Top 5 countries (out of 102 non-OECD countries) suffering least discrimination in social institutions were Paraguay (85th on GII), Croatia (30th on GII), Kazakhstan (67th on GII), Argentina (60th on GII) and Costa Rica (51st on GII).

19. Conclusions “Gender inequality remains a major barrier to human development. Girls and women have made major strides since 1990, but they have not yet gained gender equity.” 2010 Human Development Report New measures cast important light on gender disparities in health, empowerment and labour market participation Shows some societies disadvantage women in critical dimensions, highlighting the need for more proactive public policies Lack of accurate, timely, relevant and limited accessibility of data remains a major obstacle, especially for global studies ? insights from regional and national reports

20. Gender in regional and national HDRs Over 700 regional and national HDRs, including... Asia Pacific HDR (2000) Human Development in South Asia, the Gender Question South Korea (2005) Gender China (2005) Towards Human Development with Equity India (2002) - gender equality and poverty ? Asia Pacific HDR (2010) Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific