- Why in news
- On 29 April 2026, MoSPI released the 27th edition of "Women and Men in India 2025: Selected Indicators and Data" at the National Deliberative Summit on "Data for Development" in Bhubaneswar.
- Publisher
- MoSPI released the 27th edition, titled Women and Men in India 2025.
- Sex ratio at birth
- It rose from 904 in 2017-19 to 917 in 2021-23.
- Managerial positions
- Women in managerial positions rose 102.54% between 2017 and 2025, against 73.80% for men.
- Higher education GER
- GER for females rose from 28.5 to 30.2 and for males from 28.3 to 28.9 between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
- Metadata
- Metadata for 50 key indicators was added to explain concepts, definitions and sources.
Don’t confuse with Women and Men in India vs Global Gender Gap Report: The first is a national statistical compilation by MoSPI. The second is an international index published by the World Economic Forum.
Don’t confuse with Sex ratio at birth vs overall sex ratio: Sex ratio at birth counts females per 1,000 males among births. Overall sex ratio counts all females per 1,000 males in the population.
Reports and indices: 14 Prelims questions since 2013; they test who publishes a report and what it measures.
Why it matters
- Gender-disaggregated data supports evidence-based, gender-responsive policy and tracking of gender gaps.
- State/UT and rural-urban breakdowns show regional disparities.
Problems
- Gains in female LFPR may reflect unpaid or low-quality work, so job quality needs scrutiny.
- Data come from many sources with different timelines, which limits comparability.
Way forward
- Strengthen regular, timely gender-disaggregated surveys and use the data in scheme design.
- Focus on quality of women's employment and on states with weaker indicators.
Put in your answer
Sex ratio at birth: Improved from 904 (2017-19) to 917 (2021-23).
Rural female LFPR: Rose from 37.5% to 45.9% during 2022-2025.
School gender parity: Gender parity achieved at all school levels from Primary to Higher Secondary.
- 2016Mains GS3 · Q2Requirements and status of gender budgeting in India for women's empowerment.
- 2015Mains GS1 · Q10Explain why tribes' sex ratio is more favourable to women than SCs'.
- 2024Mains GS1 · Q8Distinguish gender equality, equity, empowerment; why gender concerns matter in programmes.
- 2017Prelims Q9Which body ranks countries in the Global Gender Gap Index?
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
No practice question for this one; the card may still help an answer. Why: Annual MoSPI publication; reports are 4% of news-linked Prelims questions and this one is routine data.
Worth revising until Prelims 2027: most news questions come within two years of the event.