NEW DELHI: On the human development front, Pakistan has done better than India. From a gender perspective, however, India ranks above Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal though it falls behind the rest of the South Asian countries.
‘The Human Development Report 1995, released here by United Nations Development program resident Representative Hans-C Von Sponeck, introduces gender adjusted human development indices to coincide with the UN fourth world conference on ‘women at Beijing next month.
The annual UNDP report ranks 174 nations using a range of economic and social indicators. This yearit also compares 130 nations for disparities between men and women by creating two new indices.
The gender related development index (GDI) reflects gender imbalances in basic health, education and income, while the gender empowerment measure (GEM) reflects women’s participation at the Political and economic levels. Asia, Latin America and their Caribbean are approaching those of the industrial countries at a remarkable pace, Says the report. However, as Bering $16 trillion, including $11 million of the underpaid, unpaid and “invisible” contribution of women, is missing from the global economy each year. This undervaluation of women’s work undermines their purchasing power and reduces their already low social status in many countries. While’s India’s Panchayat Raj legislation comes in for special praise in the report, a regional perspective shows that Sri Lanka’s GDIrankis 11 places higher than its HDI rank, China’s is seven, Maldives is five and Myanmar’s is one, Pakistan’s GDI, however, is 12 places lower, India’s and Nepal’s are three and Bangladesh’s is one place lower. All the East Asian countries also do far better than India on this account.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 25, 1995
