NEW DELHI: India ranked 127 out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday showing an improvement of 1.4 percentage points and eight positions from 135 in 2022. India has closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap, the report said, marking a partial recovery towards India’s 2020 (66.8%) parity level.
The index ranked India’s neighbours Bangladesh at 59, Bhutan at 103, China at 107, Sri Lanka at 115, Nepal at 116 and Pakistan at 142.
According to the report, while India has attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education, ranking 26 on the sub-index with a score of 1 on a scale of 0-1, it has reached only 36.7% parity on economic participation and opportunity. On the one hand, there are upticks in parity in wages and income but on the other, the shares of women in senior positions and technical roles have dropped slightly since the last edition.
The global gender gap score in 2023 for all 146 countries stands at 68.4% reflecting an improvement of 0.3 percentage points over 2022. For all countries covered, 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 a mere 22.1%.
As far as political empowerment goes, India registered 25.3% parity, with women representing 15.1% of parliamentarians, the highest for the country since the inaugural 2006 edition. In terms of the share of women in ministerial positions, 75 countries have 20% or less female ministers. Populous countries such as India, Turkey and China have less than 7% women ministers.
As of December 2022, approximately 27.9% of the global population, equivalent to 2.12 billion people, live in countries with a female head of state. While this indicator experienced stagnation between 2013 and 2021, 2022 witnessed a significant increase. “This surge can be primarily attributed to India, the world’s most populous country, where a female President assumed power following the 2022 Presidential election. In total, since January 2022, nine women have come into power, with eight of them still holding their positions as of March 2023,” the report states.
The report reflects on the significant strides made in terms of women’s representation in local government globally, though disparities remain between countries and regions. Out of the 117 countries with available data since 2017, only 18 countries, including Bolivia (50.4%), India (44.4%) and France (42.3%), have achieved representation of women of over 40% in local governance.
Women and child development minister Smriti Irani earlier this year said the WEF has recognised the need to enumerate women’s participation in local government bodies in its Gender Gap Report after the Indian government raised the issue with them.
On the Health and Survival index, the improvement in sex ratio at birth by 1.9 percentage points to 92.7% when compared to the 2022 index has driven up parity after more than a decade of slow progress in India. However, the report also said that for Vietnam, Azerbaijan, India and China, the relatively low overall rankings on the Health and Survival sub-index is explained by skewed sex ratios at birth. India ranks at 142 out of 146 in the sub-index.
The report highlights that no country has yet achieved full gender parity, although the top nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap. For the 14th year running, Iceland (91.2%) has taken the top position.
Overall, gender parity globally has recovered to pre-Covid levels but the pace of change has stagnated as converging crises slow progress. It is estimated that overall at the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to reach full parity.
The index ranked India’s neighbours Bangladesh at 59, Bhutan at 103, China at 107, Sri Lanka at 115, Nepal at 116 and Pakistan at 142.
According to the report, while India has attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education, ranking 26 on the sub-index with a score of 1 on a scale of 0-1, it has reached only 36.7% parity on economic participation and opportunity. On the one hand, there are upticks in parity in wages and income but on the other, the shares of women in senior positions and technical roles have dropped slightly since the last edition.
The global gender gap score in 2023 for all 146 countries stands at 68.4% reflecting an improvement of 0.3 percentage points over 2022. For all countries covered, 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 a mere 22.1%.
As far as political empowerment goes, India registered 25.3% parity, with women representing 15.1% of parliamentarians, the highest for the country since the inaugural 2006 edition. In terms of the share of women in ministerial positions, 75 countries have 20% or less female ministers. Populous countries such as India, Turkey and China have less than 7% women ministers.
As of December 2022, approximately 27.9% of the global population, equivalent to 2.12 billion people, live in countries with a female head of state. While this indicator experienced stagnation between 2013 and 2021, 2022 witnessed a significant increase. “This surge can be primarily attributed to India, the world’s most populous country, where a female President assumed power following the 2022 Presidential election. In total, since January 2022, nine women have come into power, with eight of them still holding their positions as of March 2023,” the report states.
The report reflects on the significant strides made in terms of women’s representation in local government globally, though disparities remain between countries and regions. Out of the 117 countries with available data since 2017, only 18 countries, including Bolivia (50.4%), India (44.4%) and France (42.3%), have achieved representation of women of over 40% in local governance.
Women and child development minister Smriti Irani earlier this year said the WEF has recognised the need to enumerate women’s participation in local government bodies in its Gender Gap Report after the Indian government raised the issue with them.
On the Health and Survival index, the improvement in sex ratio at birth by 1.9 percentage points to 92.7% when compared to the 2022 index has driven up parity after more than a decade of slow progress in India. However, the report also said that for Vietnam, Azerbaijan, India and China, the relatively low overall rankings on the Health and Survival sub-index is explained by skewed sex ratios at birth. India ranks at 142 out of 146 in the sub-index.
The report highlights that no country has yet achieved full gender parity, although the top nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap. For the 14th year running, Iceland (91.2%) has taken the top position.
Overall, gender parity globally has recovered to pre-Covid levels but the pace of change has stagnated as converging crises slow progress. It is estimated that overall at the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to reach full parity.
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