Significance of Gender-related Development Indicators: An Analysis of Indian States

Abstract

This article illustrates the complexities of gender-related development through an analysis of individual indicators covering issues of women’s work, education, health, survival, safety and participation in public/private decision-making. State level comparisons based on selected individual gender-related indicators reveal divergent patterns of development, highlighting the problems that complexity and non-linearity pose for measuring gender development. In the absence of unilinear patterns of gender development across Indian states, the significance of non-composite indicators and their importance for problem identification and effective intervention is highlighted.

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