Impact of Social Sector Expenditures on Gender Inequalities in Major States of India

In the present paper, an attempt is made to the examine the gender inequalities in major general category states of India, by following the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for gender issues. Secondary data has been collected from various sources to examine various gender development indicators among states in this study. It is found that, general government expenditure on social services doesn’t increase significantly whereas state government expenditure increased in most of the states with the exception of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, over the study period. Some improvement in health, education and employment indicators was noted for women but still most of the development indicators were found worse for females compared to males, in most of the states. Large variations on gender development indicators can be seen among states. These findings demand the reprioritization of expenditure and development policies of the government national as well as at the state level to remove gender inequalities.