Better Together: How Improved Gender Development and Inclusion May Strengthen Social Capabilities and Economic Resilience

Abstract: In this paper, I strove to connect the dots between gender gaps in human development, the advancement of social capabilities, and resilience to shrinkage. To analyse this, I developed an extended and improved version of the United Nation’s Gender Development Index in which I broadened the economic opportunity aspect and provided 20 years of additional data. By applying this analysis to Chile, Mexico, and Brazil, I found that whilst gender development and social capability only improved simultaneously for one country, my index was a better determinant of development of social capabilities than the United Nation’s Gender Development Index.