Human development report 1995

Human development, if not engendered, is endangered. That is the simple but far-reaching message of Human Development Report 1995. The Report analyses the progress made in reducing gender disparities in the past few decades, highlights the wide and persistent gap between women's expanding capabilities and their limited opportunities, introduces two new measures for ranking countries on a global scale by their performance in gender equality, analyses the undervaluation and non-recognition of women's work and offers a five-point strategy for equalizing gender opportunities in the decades ahead.

An innovative feature of this year's Report is the design of two new composite indices-the gender related development index (GDI) and the gender empowerment measure (GEM), both of which rank countries on a global scale of gender equality. The GDI captures gender inequality in human capabilities, and the GEM reflects inequalities in key areas of political and economic participation and decision-making.

The Report also brings together, for the first time, considerable data from a sample of 31 countries on the contributions of women and men to paid and unpaid work. The Report concludes that the unvalued contribution of women is so large that any reasonable valuation would lead to a fundamental change in the premises on which today's economic, social and political structures are founded.