Gender Development Index

The Gender Related Development Index is an index designed to measure gender equality.
GDI together with the Gender Empowerment Measure were introduced in 1995 in the Human Development Report written by the United Nations Development Program. The aim of these measurements was to add a gender-sensitive dimension to the Human Development Index. The first measurement that they created as a result was the Gender-related Development Index. The GDI is defined as a "distribution-sensitive measure that accounts for the human development impact of existing gender gaps in the three components of the HDI". Distribution sensitive means that the GDI takes into account not only the averaged or general level of well-being and wealth within a given country, but focuses also on how this wealth and well-being is distributed between different groups within society. The HDI and the GDI were created to rival the more traditional general income-based measures of development such as gross domestic product and gross national product.

Definition and calculation

The GDI is often considered a "gender-sensitive extension of the HDI". It addresses gender-gaps in life expectancy, education, and incomes. It uses an "inequality aversion" penalty, which creates a development score penalty for gender gaps in any of the categories of the Human Development Index which include life expectancy, adult literacy, school enrollment, and logarithmic transformations of per-capita income. In terms of life expectancy, the GDI assumes that women will live an average of five years longer than men. Additionally, in terms of income, the GDI considers income-gaps in terms of actual earned income. The GDI cannot be used independently from the Human Development Index score and so, it cannot be used on its own as an indicator of gender-gaps. Only the gap between the HDI and the GDI can actually be accurately considered; the GDI on its own is not an independent measure of gender-gaps.

Gender Development Index (2018)

Below is a list of countries by their Gender Development Index, based on data collected in 2018, and published in 2019. Countries are grouped into five groups based on the absolute deviation from gender parity in HDI values, from 1 to 5. This means that grouping takes equally into consideration gender gaps favoring males, as well as those favoring females.
File:Countries by Gender Development Index.png|thumb|World map showing countries in Group 1 to 5 of the Gender Development Index. Countries in Group 1 are closest to gender parity, while those in Group 5 are furthest.

2018 rank	Country	Gender Development Index	Group	Human Development Index	Human Development Index
1		0.999271313598908	1	0.802241545091312	0.802826553883562
2		0.998616111258415	1	0.814121946939387	0.815250162460792
3		1.00211774602851	1	0.797989701033099	0.796303332812547
4		1.00257442927832	1	0.901787072451453	0.899471446823739
5		1.00272297523169	1	0.693389879484458	0.691506923259876
6		1.00324890931813	1	0.421654103634997	0.420288624008154
7		1.00339001174288	1	0.744042111285307	0.741528321567516
8		1.00369597615498	1	0.712223593546365	0.709600925446362
9		0.995480861692473	1	0.762715746885023	0.766178212194142
10		1.00461251995559	1	0.793862458409325	0.790217564125534
11		0.995122669191676	1	0.745224174704749	0.748876694076404
12		0.995109362655928	1	0.757109191363106	0.760830135636948
13		1.00705674095832	1	0.713558080174709	0.70855797012558
14		0.992621622836447	1	0.811903568014688	0.817938627706547
15		0.992371676979385	1	0.852080306845641	0.858630215484618
16		1.00854973881397	1	0.874194924380356	0.86678414632122
17		0.99144743381844	1	0.914844606387427	0.922736370262227
18		1.0094706476123	1	0.647427874518634	0.641353838321097
19		0.990437581014824	1	0.94564679665501	0.954776772187986
20		0.989817373600636	1	0.919751993696064	0.929213830982077
21		1.01032361432783	1	0.816388101546477	0.808046144788592
22		1.010339927488	1	0.819686875325532	0.811298111679611
23		0.989531869461814	1	0.723041706146159	0.730690671478228
24		0.989058149729888	1	0.915888363975847	0.926020744307072
25		0.98859213038971	1	0.832316431348996	0.841920955835336
26		0.98814794506132	1	0.929356109430028	0.940503002687878
27		0.987919014775328	1	0.817640023795134	0.827638714880978
28		1.01272311153934	1	0.728475070383083	0.719323043073244
29		0.986891147195856	1	0.836720430865344	0.847834569438376
30		1.01321583363332	1	0.654849103183038	0.646307609342023
31		0.986296673191879	1	0.754714364824177	0.765200152588724
32		0.986261546538915	1	0.809420161886165	0.820695245319724
33		0.986030910048998	1	0.718965693897112	0.729151273626285
34		1.01499805083001	1	0.828317933961805	0.816078349396287
35		0.98439750467821	1	0.883037148032378	0.897033102822659
36		1.01574985871536	1	0.885869263158098	0.872133287105225
37		0.984153359434317	1	0.698296318804934	0.709540146473014
38		0.984006569463407	1	0.842559344988258	0.856253780345916
39		1.01607193850868	1	0.809691228698831	0.79688376187934
40		0.983855072217788	1	0.836374771060734	0.850099567180554
41		0.98384439453558	1	0.644164225448235	0.654741978534431
42		0.983090727880394	1	0.864740933228215	0.879614575444782
43		0.983021479607738	1	0.881578351276749	0.896804769340881
44		0.982811514946144	1	0.712983445231243	0.725452881237674
45		0.981817713523961	1	0.927549412691099	0.944726704269694
46		0.98068365758681	1	0.881897607495364	0.899268179573288
47		0.980461996197969	1	0.920118047343707	0.938453556498605
48		0.979876022499264	1	0.747701339556282	0.763057083128946
49		0.978843828928938	1	0.774556381501532	0.791297200442139
50		0.977136852016496	1	0.781504112645575	0.799789825788274
51		0.976487130681848	1	0.901210670433948	0.92291095511383
52		0.976372480770375	1	0.789117394155053	0.808213473542829
53		0.975113503181452	1	0.925664958786577	0.949289447604262
54		0.974930720274505	2	0.928842297989999	0.9527264642235
55		0.974776845288729	2	0.734104181262105	0.753099732323518
56		1.02554956311433	2	0.522151801801454	0.50914341011059
57		0.973598560971563	2	0.781958849986583	0.803163522762666
58		0.973439493655793	2	0.655984723050024	0.673883407572098
59		0.972097105538784	2	0.745713315885668	0.767118132166803
60		1.02801557456846	2	0.880350319739633	0.856358932216745
61		0.971637285832976	2	0.904498199776896	0.93090108105668
62		0.971619589838185	2	0.710079630808469	0.730820619751736
63		0.971565636624078	2	0.89085212219952	0.916924280375936
64		0.971535181068249	2	0.791500865872141	0.814690894674394
65		0.971302380112087	2	0.778864159321813	0.801876094684266
66		0.970407383075693	2	0.611426703399936	0.630072188303048
67		0.970263947573514	2	0.893206480322808	0.920580922909261
68		1.03040141727652	2	0.86528356437401	0.839753856959034
69		1.03051247212425	2	0.745684609993285	0.723605613871095
70		0.969303900072772	2	0.65414310778579	0.67485863591045
71		0.968046731183915	2	0.922788125514936	0.953247499102003
72		0.968014313475195	2	0.710081665159304	0.733544592548527
73		0.967274986133354	2	0.865859235918938	0.895153134663575
74		0.96671693364499	2	0.903526469774669	0.934633953672392
75		0.966586563190941	2	0.915682504422063	0.94733626484437
76		0.966035360302579	2	0.921422694662473	0.953818806771077
77		0.965505839872185	2	0.800863981950797	0.829476062057601
78		0.965148016786254	2	0.831679159131191	0.861711514364929
79		0.964573668396	2	0.867003905508653	0.898846748481537
80		0.963450079812055	2	0.901877659315533	0.936091737613916
81		0.963384994370094	2	0.924302891740428	0.959432518818482
82		0.96331458591632	2	0.91883629861405	0.953827868951074
83		0.962992625875126	2	0.894949094941461	0.929341586731435
84		0.96272210220035	2	0.854140900297802	0.887214387563783
85		0.962280698092814	2	0.594969468404531	0.618290972253447
86		0.961896022109213	2	0.827637034592205	0.860422556668226
87		0.960737178700119	2	0.7411723134053	0.771462091649362
88		0.959354156976191	2	0.655758696158308	0.683541830084114
89		0.957251775460597	2	0.747167434728433	0.780533871947035
90		1.04338023447896	2	0.87328373892252	0.836975543588494
91		0.953281245175706	2	0.566167394183869	0.593914332259327
92		0.951068629111926	2	0.73835574021778	0.776343281249042
93		0.949346763894446	3	0.575199531528163	0.60588981118823
94		0.94847909440168	3	0.752740766990656	0.793629265456294
95		0.946858477421388	3	0.736774749145141	0.778125524261687
96		0.946436637249011	3	0.504225253132795	0.532761764800671
97		0.944301733548051	3	0.691914784976437	0.732726373779583
98		0.943001743676744	3	0.628457412659945	0.666443531917134
99		0.942983702163843	3	0.519691032216798	0.551113482687214
100		0.942644918586126	3	0.792879654368817	0.841122291899752
–	World average	0.941430799701876	–	0.706980962068851	0.750964343096414
101		0.94043401604125	3	0.728006586417231	0.774117666948894
102		0.938974186367784	3	0.689217295551526	0.734010908454909
103		0.938530667537194	3	0.685437015702195	0.730329907599989
104		0.937501402709405	3	0.749425007262443	0.799385478354042
105		0.937278216882204	3	0.681319036769408	0.726912270548411
106		0.936580181665306	3	0.799753662146286	0.853908376242029
107		0.936071128421922	3	0.677681643411889	0.723963834408994
108		0.93556520183438	3	0.509116716427692	0.54418090308346
109		0.933514804909621	3	0.869859990274136	0.931811671008637
110		0.93334124890745	3	0.553446092043308	0.592972926773739
111		0.930834633256552	3	0.670350699455828	0.720160891640427
112		0.930508381323755	3	0.590608226344738	0.63471564383389
113		0.929979500928547	3	0.466256425669024	0.501362046371437
114		0.929388949637999	3	0.580896379268115	0.625030434775856
115		0.924865126473049	4	0.540217146902477	0.584103704896499
116		0.923845887665176	4	0.770530112179602	0.834046156904971
117		0.92376150833791	4	0.735305564655512	0.795990694587958
118		0.919132552991075	4	0.556669111249323	0.605646170879042
119		0.917044836281997	4	0.668897563298245	0.72940551741197
120		0.912066262295093	4	0.567120060412223	0.621796994206474
121		0.901852522177659	4	0.545524138209497	0.60489284533157
122		0.901399241057088	4	0.42171001631638	0.467839329243092
123		0.899721720272795	5	0.571432940029916	0.635121868411333
124		0.899338643290567	5	0.589475390655512	0.655454310846352
125		0.898619930984625	5	0.437938141035413	0.487345234548226
126		0.898516211947261	5	0.68930089658175	0.767154657218593
127		0.897374748629354	5	0.548886325033576	0.611657867431575
128		0.895463713494037	5	0.574538067712771	0.64160954715961
129		0.893345815434905	5	0.580503137357053	0.649807865361129
130		0.890577064263023	5	0.678454800871403	0.761814814344947
131		0.890365827551326	5	0.477397671690552	0.536181485090781
132		0.888069540927266	5	0.504017390629825	0.567542706288025
133		0.883486835760026	5	0.485715005319931	0.549770506656267
134		0.882483208929897	5	0.410599830153055	0.465277782056556
135		0.879136805709795	5	0.784333088515893	0.892162725325372
136		0.878316588012583	5	0.64266778257163	0.731704024884503
137		0.874690316250611	5	0.403149171515835	0.460905035789063
138		0.873999741121421	5	0.726849370286313	0.831635681440477
139		0.87347139391351	5	0.475960252557682	0.544906514253643
140		0.871346924588787	5	0.623519218495938	0.71558090227976
141		0.86892158600649	5	0.522007757584777	0.600753584663367
142		0.868301159101109	5	0.654288917853024	0.753527633811249
143		0.867675972564795	5	0.491676192340555	0.566658761896094
144		0.864588565403417	5	0.684971930096163	0.792251895879002
145		0.86268775649487	5	0.48376445336274	0.56076425070444
146		0.852934961025278	5	0.479113168207732	0.561722980181056
147		0.844045244422387	5	0.418857464866842	0.496250014599019
148		0.843899175273984	5	0.42770052294657	0.506814718485429
149		0.838915228792041	5	0.368735499184939	0.439538449809623
150		0.836500123073206	5	0.456500034277483	0.545726200972158
151		0.832807050749792	5	0.602993983556629	0.724050046182658
152		0.832110339375305	5	0.415697194375194	0.499569798264101
153		0.828659271423645	5	0.573650381208353	0.692263275136976
154		0.817890855118709	5	0.458991965749326	0.561189751513615
155		0.807099598839839	5	0.380140424771307	0.470995680480746
156		0.80606657004618	5	0.41342656240414	0.512893820147453
157		0.798555909314393	5	0.561341006774011	0.702945154154523
158		0.796251100904936	5	0.445376820642565	0.559342172508641
159		0.795444752528615	5	0.335149259100481	0.421335684263534
160		0.79532319946114	5	0.457372222910504	0.57507718022106
161		0.789324230426714	5	0.587352897134761	0.744121204561571
162		0.774452360811538	5	0.347398235861034	0.448572763723
163		0.746878273640409	5	0.464284284133844	0.621633136911112
164		0.722861973965333	5	0.410756365978411	0.568236234263597
165		0.457536126892644	5	0.244873082377673	0.5351994476168
166		0.298179843688684	5	0.129771161871938	0.435211046684383

Controversies

General debates

In the years since its creation in 1995, much debate has arisen surrounding the reliability, and usefulness of the Gender Development Index in making adequate comparisons between different countries and in promoting gender-sensitive development. The GDI is particularly criticized for being often mistakenly interpreted as an independent measure of gender-gaps when it is not, in fact, intended to be interpreted in that way, because it can only be used in combination with the scores from the Human Development Index, but not on its own. Additionally, the data that is needed in order to calculate the GDI is not always readily available in many countries, making the measure very hard to calculate uniformly and internationally. There is also worry that the combination of so many different developmental influences in one measurement could result in muddled results and that perhaps the GDI actually hide more than they reveal.

Debates surrounding the life expectancy adjustment

More specifically, there has been a lot of debate over the life-expectancy component of the Gender-related Development Index. As was mentioned previously, the GDI life expectancy section is adjusted to assume that women will live, normally, five years longer than men. This provision has been debated, and it has been argued that if the GDI was really looking to promote true equality, it would strive to attain the same life-expectancy for women and men, despite what might be considered a biological advantage or not. However, this may seem paradoxical in terms of policy implications, because, theoretically, this could only be achieved through providing preferential treatment to males, effectively discriminating against females. Furthermore, it has been argued that the GDI doesn't account for sex-selective abortion, meaning that the penalty levied against a country for gender inequality is less because it affects less of the population.

Debates surrounding income gaps

Another area of debate surrounding the Gender-related Development Index is in the area of income gaps. The GDI considers income-gaps in terms of actual earned income. This has been said to be problematic because often, men may make more money than women, but their income is shared. Additionally, the GDI has been criticized because it does not consider the value of care work as well as other work performed in the informal sector. Another criticism of the GDI is that it only takes gender into account as a factor for inequality, it does not, however, consider inequality among class, region or race, which could be very significant. Another criticism with the income-gap portion of the GDI is that it is heavily dependent on gross domestic product and gross national product. For most countries, the earned-income gap accounts for more than 90% of the gender penalty.

Suggested alternatives

As was suggested by Halis Akder in 1994, one alternative to the Gender-related Development Index would be the calculation of a separate male and female Human Development Index. Another suggested alternative is the Gender Gap Measure which could be interpreted directly as a measure of gender inequality, instead of having to be compared to the Human Development Index as the GDI is. It would average the female-male gaps in human development and use a gender-gap in labor force participation instead of earned income. In the 2010 Human Development Report, another alternative to the Gender-related Development Index, namely, the Gender Inequality Index was proposed in order to address some of the shortcomings of the GDI. This new experimental measure contains three dimensions: Reproductive Health, Empowerment, and Labor Market Participation.

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