A Gender Atlas of India

Book excerpt: A Gender Atlas of India is a seminal body of work which comprehensively maps and grades India's performance from 2001 to 2016 on issues of concern for women. Taking into account 8 overall indicators and 28 sub-indicators, it looks at how India is performing on various aspects, including sex ratio, women's education, employment, health, political participation and representation; and prevention of crimes against women. Unlike previous attempts, this book examines the change in India's performance over a 15-year period, compares the situation of women in India to that in its neighborhood and internationally, and rates each Indian state and union territory individually. The findings in this book are both provocative and incentivizing for policymakers--they show that where the central and state governments share concerns India's performance on gender has improved, but where they diverge women's condition has deteriorated even further.