India Ranks Low At 135th Worldwide For Gender Parity; Worst For Health & Survival: World Economic Forum Report

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India Ranks Low At 135th Worldwide For Gender Parity; Worst For Health & Survival: World Economic Forum Report

Just in South Asia, India has ranked the sixth best on the overall score after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. Only the likes of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan ranked lower than India.

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India has ranked low at 135th place in terms of gender parity, despite going up by five spots since 2021 on better performance in areas of economic participation and opportunity.

Exactly like last time, Iceland managed to keep hold of its number 1 spot as the most gender-equal country in the world, closely followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden, according to the annual Gender Gap Report 2022 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) released in Geneva.

India Behind In WEF List

Just 11 other nations are ranked behind India on the index of 146 countries, with Afghanistan, Congo, Pakistan, Chad and Iran being the worst-five.

The World Economic Forum warned that the cost of living crisis is set to hit women the hardest worldwide with a growing gender gap in the labour force, and it would take only 132 more years (compared to 136 in 2021) to close the gender gap. Furthermore, the report added that the pandemic also set gender parity back by a generation, and a weak recovery made it worse globally.

Regarding India, the WEF stated that its gender gap score recorded its seventh-highest level in the past 16 years; and it continues to rank among the worst performers on various parameters.

"With a female population of approximately 662 million, India's level of attainment weighs heavily on regional rankings," Economic Times quoted the report as saying.

While making a significant recovery since 2021, India recorded the most notable and positive change in its Economic Participation and Opportunity performance. However, labour-force participation went down for both men and women since 2021.

Meanwhile, the share of women legislators, managers and senior officials grew to 17.6 per cent from 14.6 per cent; the percentage of women as technical and professional workers also went up to 32.9 per cent from 29.2 per cent.

The Gender Gap

The gender parity score for estimated earned income bettered; while values for women and men declined, they dropped more for men.

However, in the political empowerment areas, the subindex where India ranks comparatively higher at the 48th spot showed a declining total due to the falling share of years women have functioned as head of state over the last 50 years.

In terms of the health and survival subindex, the country is currently ranked the lowest at 146th spot and figured among the bottom five nations with gender gaps more significant than 5 per cent -- the other four being Azerbaijan, Qatar, China and Pakistan.

However, India still ranked the top worldwide in terms of gender parity for tertiary education enrolment and primary education enrolment and grabbed the eighth spot for the position of head of state.

Deep Dive Into South Asia

Just in South Asia, India has ranked the sixth best on the overall score after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. Only the likes of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan ranked lower than India.

South Asia (62.3 per cent) has the most significant gender gap of all areas, with a low score across all estimated gender gaps and undersized improvements accomplished in most nations since 2021.

At its current rate, it will take over 197 years to close the gender gap in the area. The economic gender gap has closed by 1.8 per cent with increases in the share of women in professional and technical roles in countries including Bangladesh and India, as well as Nepal.

The WEF said that of the 146 economies surveyed, just one in five has managed to close the gender gap by at least 1 per cent in the past year.

Also Read: Here's All You Need To Know About 9,500 KG National Emblem On New Parliament Building

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Writer : Snehadri Sarkar
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