With all its gender stereotypes, Pakistan stands ahead of India in gender equality, concludes the UNDPs Human Development Report 2010, which for the first time measures gender inequality index (GII) and multidimensional poverty index to bare the real face of human development in any nation.
Analyses of the report shows that South Asia is characterised by relatively weak female empowerment with an inequality loss of 35 per cent (in HDI value) as compared to 16 per cent in developed countries.
India ranks 122 out of 138 countries on the GII based on 2008 data, nine per cent parliamentary seats here are held by women and 27 per cent of adult women have secondary or higher levels of education compared to 50 per cent adult men.
Compare this with Pakistan whose GII is 112, better than Indias. The latter posts better gender gains than only Afghanistan, where increasing Talibanisation has been pushing women to the margins. Afghanistan ranks 134 on GII, while all other South Asian nations are better ranked than India- Bangladesh (116), Nepal (110), Maldives (59) and Sri Lanka (72). China is ranked much better at 38 on the front.
The GII, which captures gender gaps in reproductive health, empowerment and workforce participation in 138 countries, further shows that six countries of East Asia and the Pacific fall in the lower half on gender inequality with Papua New Guinea among the lowest 10.
The top 10 most gender equal nations in the world are The Netherlands (first in the list), followed by Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Italy and Singapore.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index, which identifies serious simultaneous deprivations in health, education and income on the household level in 104 countries, calculates that South Asia is home to half of the worlds multi-dimensionally (on various markers like housing, sanitation, drinking water, etc) poor population or 844 million people.
Analyses of the report shows that South Asia is characterised by relatively weak female empowerment with an inequality loss of 35 per cent (in HDI value) as compared to 16 per cent in developed countries.
India ranks 122 out of 138 countries on the GII based on 2008 data, nine per cent parliamentary seats here are held by women and 27 per cent of adult women have secondary or higher levels of education compared to 50 per cent adult men.
Compare this with Pakistan whose GII is 112, better than Indias. The latter posts better gender gains than only Afghanistan, where increasing Talibanisation has been pushing women to the margins. Afghanistan ranks 134 on GII, while all other South Asian nations are better ranked than India- Bangladesh (116), Nepal (110), Maldives (59) and Sri Lanka (72). China is ranked much better at 38 on the front.
The GII, which captures gender gaps in reproductive health, empowerment and workforce participation in 138 countries, further shows that six countries of East Asia and the Pacific fall in the lower half on gender inequality with Papua New Guinea among the lowest 10.
The top 10 most gender equal nations in the world are The Netherlands (first in the list), followed by Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Italy and Singapore.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index, which identifies serious simultaneous deprivations in health, education and income on the household level in 104 countries, calculates that South Asia is home to half of the worlds multi-dimensionally (on various markers like housing, sanitation, drinking water, etc) poor population or 844 million people.
