Context: India was ranked 127 among 146 countries in gender parity, up eight places from last year’s place, in the Gender Gap Report, 2023 of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
What is Global Gender Gap Index
- It is an annual report highlights the current state and evolution of gender parity.
- It was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006.
- It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps.
What are the elements of the Global Gender Gap Index Framework
Key findings of the Global Gender Index 2023 Report:
- According to the WEF no country has yet achieved full gender parity.
- For the 14th year running, Iceland (91.2%) takes the top position. It also continues to be the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.
- For the 146 countries, the Health and Survival gender gap has closed by 96%, the Educational Attainment gap by 95.2%, Economic Participation and Opportunity gap by 60.1%, and Political Empowerment gap by 22.1%.
- The current rate of progress from 2006 to 2023 suggests that it will take considerable time to close the gender gaps.
- The Political Empowerment gender gap is projected to take 162 years to close, while the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap is estimated to require 169 years.
- On the other hand, the Educational Attainment gender gap is expected to be resolved within 16 years. However, the time needed to close the Health and Survival gender gap remains uncertain.
- Achieving gender parity in the labour market continues to pose a significant challenge. Notably, women’s participation in the global labour market has declined in recent years, and there are substantial disparities between men and women in various aspects of economic opportunity.
- Despite women globally returning to the labour force at higher rates than men, resulting in a slight improvement in gender parity in labour force participation since the 2022, significant gaps persist in multiple dimensions (like leadership roles).
Status of South Asia & India in the Global Gender Index:
- India was ranked 135 in 2022 and has since improved by 1.4 percentage points, indicating a partial recovery towards its 2020 parity level.
- The report highlights that India has closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap. However, India has only reached 36.7% parity in economic participation and opportunity.
- India has achieved parity in enrolment across all levels of education.
- In India, while there has been an improvement in parity in wages and income, the representation of women in senior positions and technical roles has slightly decreased since the last edition.
- India has a 25.3% parity in political empowerment, with women comprising 15.1% of MPs.
- Among 117 countries with available data since 2017, 18 countries, including Bolivia (50.4%), India (44.4%), and France (42.3%), have achieved women’s representation of over 40% in local governance.
- In India, a 1.9 percentage point improvement in the sex ratio at birth has contributed to increased parity after more than a decade.
- Compared to top-scoring countries with 94.4% gender parity at birth, India’s indicator stands at 92.7%.
- Overall, the Southern Asian region has achieved 63.4% gender parity, which is the second-lowest among the eight regions.
