Delhi men, women most empowered in the country: Study

Economically, politically and in decision making, the national capital's men and women are the most empowered across the country, a report that was released by the ministry of women and child development said Friday.

According to the study, Delhi had the highest score on the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) in the country. It made an improvement and moved from the third rank of 0.479 in 1996 to 0.564 in 2006.

GEM is an index which measures the ability of women and men to participate actively in economic and political life and their command over economic resources. It focuses on opportunities and captures gender inequality in three areas – political participation and decision making power, economic participation and decision making power and power over economic resources.

The report, titled 'Gendering Human Development Indices: Recasting the Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Measure for India', said that the aggregate GEM for India was 0.416 in 1996 and 0.497 in 2006 – thus indicating an overall improvement.

Thirteen states have improved their gender empowerment index over the years. Among them are Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

Amongst the poor scorers who have had a fall in their rankings in the decade between 1996 and 2006 were Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Chandigarh.

Nagaland had the lowest rank in both 1996 and 2006, with a GEM score of 0.165 and 0.289 respectively.

The report is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and was prepared by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA).