A Gender Empowerment Measure Aasha Kapur Mehta This paper tries to construct three measures of gender empowerment based on the following indicators: representation in Lok Sabha, state legislatures, gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads; the literacy rate; exercise of the right to vote; life expectancy and income. The scores and ranks obtained by the 16 states for each of these variables, the author suggests, reveal gender-based disparities that can be meaningfully used by policy-makers and analysts.