UNDP's gender-related indices: A critical review

This paper critically reviews the two gender-related indices proposed by UNDP in the 1995 Human Development Report, the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). While supporting the need to develop indicators that reliably track women's empowerment (GEM) as well as the impact of gender inequality on overall human development (GDI), we argue that the particular ways in which these indices were constructed and the assumptions made to overcome data gaps severely limit their usefulness and result in very misleading international comparisons. Wherever appropriate, we suggest remedies for some of the shortcomings identified. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.