It tracks the percentages of women in parliament, among administrators and managers and among professional and technical workers and women s earned income share as a percentage of men s. Differing from the GDI, it exposes inequality in opportunities in selected areas. Enlarging people s choices is achieved by expanding human capabilities and functionings. At all levels of development the three essential capabilities for human development are for people to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable and to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living. If these basic capabilities are not achieved, many choices are simply not available and many opportunities remain inaccessible.
Income is certainly one of the main means of expanding choices and well-being.
But it is not the sum total of people s lives. It is impossible to come up with a comprehensive measure or even a comprehensive set of indicators because many vital dimensions of human development are non-quantifiable. But a simple composite measure of human development can draw attention to the issues quite effectively. The HDI is not a substitute for the fuller treatment of the richness of the concerns of the human development perspective. The HDI measures the overall achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development longevity, knowledge and a decent standard of living.