A recent annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has placed India at the 112th position among 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index for 2020. This ranking marks a slip from India’s place at 108th in the last edition.
About the Global Gender Gap Index
The WEF launched its first such index in 2006, setting a benchmark for countries to measure their progress towards gender equality. The Global Gender Gap Index assesses countries based on four key parameters: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
The Index scores can range from 0 (indicating inequality) to 1 (completeness of equality), serving as an effective measure to track relative gaps between males and females in essential areas such as health, education, economy, and politics. Through this annual measure, stakeholders within each country can set relevant priorities in line with their specific economic, political and cultural contexts.
Key Findings of The Global Gender Gap Report 2020
The report highlights that there is an average population-weighted distance of 68.6% completed towards achieving full gender parity. Based on current trends, it will take approximately 99.5 years to achieve total equality between men and women. Political empowerment emerged as the area with the most significant gender disparity, with females occupying only 25% of the 35,127 parliamentary seats globally and 21% of 3,343 ministerial positions.
For 11 consecutive years, Iceland has topped the Global Gender Gap Index, closing nearly 88% of its gender gap. Scandinavian countries – Norway, Finland, and Sweden, trail closely behind. Unfortunately, Yemen has the worst ranking (153rd), followed by Iraq (152nd) and Pakistan (151st).
India’s Performance on The Global Gender Gap Index
India has seen a drop in its ranking from the 108th position in the last edition to the 112th position in this year’s index. This decline is concerning, considering that India was at the 98th position in the report published in 2006.
Among the various countries ranked, India lagged behind several nations including China (106th), Sri Lanka (102nd), Nepal (101st), Brazil (92nd), Indonesia (85th) and Bangladesh (50th).
On the four key indicators, India climbed to the 18th spot in political empowerment but fell to 150th in health and survival, 149th in economic participation and opportunity and 112th place in educational attainment.
| Indicator | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Political Empowerment | 18th |
| Health and Survival | 150th |
| Economic Participation and Opportunity | 149th |
| Educational Attainment | 112th |
The Economic Gender Gap in India
In an alarming revelation, the economic gender gap in India (0.354) is larger than its political gender gap (0.411), making India the only country among the 153 surveyed to have such a disparity. Moreover, representation of women on company boards in India is remarkably low at just 13.8%, a figure that’s even worse in China, standing at 9.7%.
In terms of health and survival, India along with three other large countries – Pakistan, Vietnam and China, has been identified as performing poorly, depriving millions of women of access to essential health services on par with men.
About World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum, established in 1971, is an international organization for public-private cooperation. It is an independent, impartial, not-for-profit foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. The forum aims to demonstrate global public interest entrepreneurship while upholding the highest standards of governance.
