Why in the News?
India has been ranked 131 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2025, falling two places from last year’s rank of 129.
About the Global Gender Gap Index
- Overview: It is released annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and has been published since 2006.
- Scope of Measurement: It evaluates gender parity across 4 key dimensions:
- Economic Participation and Opportunity,
- Educational Attainment,
- Health and Survival, and
- Political Empowerment.
- Scoring Method: The index uses a 0–1 scale, where 1 represents full gender parity.
- 2025 Edition Coverage: The 19th edition of the index covers 148 countries, making it a global benchmark for tracking gender gaps.
Key Highlights of the 2025 Report:
- India’s Performance: It is ranked 131 out of 148 countries, falling two spots from its 2024 rank of 129.
- Overall Score: India’s overall gender parity score is 64.1%, placing it among the lowest-ranked in South Asia.
- Economic Participation: India improved in this category, with the score rising to 40.7%, and estimated earned income parity increasing from 28.6% to 29.9%.
- Labour Force Participation: India’s rate remains at 45.9%, its highest recorded level.
- Educational Attainment: The country scored 97.1%, with gains in female literacy and tertiary education enrolment.
- Health and Survival: This category showed marginal improvement due to a better sex ratio at birth and higher healthy life expectancy.
- Political Empowerment: India declined in this area, with women in Parliament dropping from 14.7% to 13.8%, and women ministers decreasing from 6.5% to 5.6%.
Global Trends and Significance:
- Regional Rankings: The highest rank is held by Bangladesh in South Asia at 24, followed by Bhutan (119), Nepal (125), Sri Lanka (130), Maldives (138), and Pakistan (148).
- Global Parity Score: The overall global gender gap has narrowed to 68.8%, marking the best progress since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Timeline for Equality: At the current pace, it will take 123 years to achieve full gender parity worldwide.
- Top Performers: Top-rank is retained by Iceland for the 16th consecutive year, followed by Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
- Leadership Gap: Although women make up 41.2% of the global workforce, they occupy only 28.8% of leadership roles.
Back2Basics: World Economic Forum (WEF)
|
| [UPSC 2017] Which of the following gives ‘Global Gender Gap Index’ ranking to the countries of the world?
Options: (a) World Economic Forum* (b) UN Human Rights Council (c) UN Women (d) World Health Organization |
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
