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Topic : Global Gender Gap Index: WEF

GS-1, 2 Mains  : Issues Related to Women, IR

Revision Notes

Context

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) published the 18th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report (2024).

About the Global Gender Gap Index (2024)

• Annually benchmarks gender parity across four key dimensions:
  1. Economic Participation and Opportunity
  2. Educational Attainment
  3. Health and Survival
  4. Political Empowerment

Key Findings of the Report

• Global Results:
  • Gender gap closed: 68.5% (2024), indicating a 31.5% gap remains.
  • Improvement: +0.1 percentage point from last year’s 68.5% to 68.6%.
• Time to Parity:
  • Estimated 134 years to reach full parity.
  • Slowed progress affects the rate to achieve parity.
• Top Performers:
  • No country achieved full gender parity.
  • 97% economies closed more than 60% of their gap, up from 85% in 2006.
  • Top countries:
    • Iceland (1st, 93.5%)
    • Finland (2nd, 87.5%)
    • Norway (3rd, 87.5%)
    • Sweden (5th, 81.6%)
    • Germany (7th, 81%)
    • Ireland (9th, 80.2%)
    • Spain (10th, 79.7%)
  • Finland is the only economy to have closed over 90% of its gender gap.
• Lowest Performers:
  • Sudan ranked last (146th).
  • Pakistan slipped to 145th.
• Labour-force Participation:
  • Improved from 63.5% (2023) to 65.7% (2024) in 101 tracked economies.

India’s Performance

• Overall Ranking:
  • 129th (2024), down from 127th (2023).
  • Gender gap closed: 64.1%.
• Educational Attainment & Political Empowerment:
  • Declines in both areas.
• Economic Participation & Opportunity:
  • Slight improvement.
• Best Gender Parity:
  • Enrolment in secondary education.
• Political Empowerment:
  • Top-10 in head-of-state indicator.
  • Low representation: Ministerial positions (6.9%) and Parliament (17.2%).
• Regional Ranking:
  • Fifth in South Asia (after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan).
• Economic Parity:
  • Among the lowest globally, <30% parity in estimated earned income.

Gender Inequality in India

Socio-Cultural Disparity

• Sex Ratio:
  • Overall: 1020 females per 1000 males (NFHS-5, 2019-21).
  • At Birth: 929, indicating sex selection.
• Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR):
  • 97 per lakh live births (2018-20).
• Malnutrition (NFHS-5):
  • Underweight women (15-49 years): 18.7%.
  • Stunted women (15-49 years): 21.2%.
  • Anaemic women (15-49 years): 53%.
• Education (NFHS-5, 2019-21):
  • Female literacy rate: 70.3%.
  • Male literacy rate: 84.7%.
• Gender-Based Violence (NCRB, 2021):
  • Over 4 lakh cases of crimes against women.
• Child Marriage (NFHS-5):
  • Women married before age 18: 23.3%.

Economic Disparity

• Employment:
  • Female labour force participation (15+ years): 32.8% (PLFS, 2021-22).
• Informalisation (ILO):
  • Female employment in informal economy: 81.8%.
• Wage Gap:
  • Women paid 21% of men’s income (Global Gender Gap Report 2021).

Political Disparity

• Representation in Parliament & State Legislatures:
  • Women MPs and MLAs: ~14%.
• Representation in Local Panchayats (Ministry of Panchayati Raj, April 2023):
  • Women panchayat representatives: 46.94%.
  • Sarpanch-Pati culture reduces effective representation.