Abstract: | The Gender Gap Index (GGI) is very useful when it comes to international comparisons, and it offers diverse and interesting approaches to equality, human wellbeing, and development. The central goal of this paper is to demonstrate the way in which this index is indirectly related to the distribution of public expenditure in different strategic sectors of economic development. When reducing healthcare and education expenditures in order to service the external debt due to institutional investors of the shadow financial system (SFS), the gender gap widens because of the austerity policies implemented by the state. This contributes to deepening of the unpaid work within the household, alongside widening the gender gap. |