The 17th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 has been recently released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), offering a comprehensive evaluation of gender parity across 146 nations globally. This annual report highlights the persistent issues of gender inequality in various sectors, revealing the status and pace of progress towards achieving equality between men and women.
An Overview of the Global Gender Gap Index
The Global Gender Gap Index is a benchmark that assesses countries on their strides towards gender parity within four key dimensions – Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. The index assigns scores ranging from 0 to 1, where 1 denotes full gender parity, and 0 indicates complete disparity. Established in 2006, this index serves as a valuable tool for tracking progress over time towards closing these gender gaps.
Purpose of the Global Gender Gap Report
The primary objective of this report is to serve as an instrument for tracking relative gaps between women and men in health, education, economy, and politics. Through this yearly measure, stakeholders in each nation can set priorities relevant to their specific economic, political, and cultural context.
Key Findings of the Report
The 2023 report reveals a global gender gap score of 68.4%, a slight improvement of 0.3% points in comparison to the previous year. However, at the current rate, it would take 131 years to achieve total gender parity, indicating a significant slowdown from past trends.
Iceland continues to maintain its top-ranking position for the 14th year in a row, having closed over 90% of its gender gap. The Nordic countries — including Norway, Finland, and Sweden — are also part of the top five rankings.
The report also displays different progress rates in different areas. For instance, the gender gap in health and survival has closed 96% worldwide but the political empowerment gender gap remains at a closure rate of just 22.1%. The gender gap in education has made significant progress over the period from 2006 to 2023, closing by 95.2%. However, the gender disparity continues to persist in the economy with a global score of 60.1%.
India’s Performance in the Gender Gap Report
With a significant jump from 135th (in 2022) to 127th out of 146 countries in the 2023 report, India demonstrates an upward trend in its ranking. The country has improved by 1.4 percentage points and eight positions since the last edition.
India’s achievement is notable in the area of education where it has reached parity in enrolment across all levels—a major milestone for the country’s education system. Conversely, progress in economic participation and opportunity remains a challenge with only 36.7% gender parity achieved. On the political front, India shows promising strides, reaching 25.3% parity. It also made significant progress in health and survival with a 1.9%-point improvement in India’s sex ratio at birth.
Indian Initiatives to Reduce Gender Gap
Various initiatives in India have been launched to address the gender gap in social, economic and political life. Measures like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ ensure the protection, survival, and education of girls. Programs like the Mahila Shakti Kendra provide rural women with opportunities for skill development and employment. Government initiatives such as Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna and Stand-Up India are designed to boost female entrepreneurship and promote savings for girl children. Long-term policy measures like reserving 33% of seats for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions are also implemented to empower women in the governance process.
Through these concerted efforts by each country, the gap between genders can be gradually closed, and societies can be more equitable, inclusive and just.