Global Gender Gap: India dropped two spots to 129th place on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap index, while Iceland remained at the top of the list, according to its findings released on Wednesday. After Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, India was placed fifth in South Asia, while Pakistan came in last.
Sudan came in bottom out of 146 countries on the index, while Pakistan dropped three spots to 145th. India's economy was among the least equitable, along with those of Bangladesh, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, and Morocco. In terms of estimated earned income, none of them had a gender parity of more than thirty percent.
With a population of over 140 crore, India has closed 64.1 per cent of its gender gap in 2024 and the decline of two places from 127th last year, mainly happened due to small declines in 'Educational Attainment' and 'Political Empowerment,' parameters, while 'Economic Participation' and 'Opportunity' scores slightly improved.
The WEF said India's economic parity score has trended upwards for the past four years. In the Political Empowerment subindex, India scored within the top-10 on the head-of-state indicator, but its scores for women's representation at the federal level, in ministerial positions (6.9 per cent) and in Parliament (17.2 per cent), remain relatively low, it added.
The WEF said the world has closed 68.5 per cent of the gender gap, but at the current pace it will take another 134 years -- equivalent to five generations -- to achieve full gender parity.
Since last year, the gender gap has closed by 0.1 percentage points. "Despite some bright spots, the slow and incremental gains highlighted in this year's Global Gender Gap Report underscore the urgent need for a renewed global commitment to achieving gender parity, particularly in economic and political spheres," WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said.
"We cannot wait until 2158 for parity. The time for decisive action is now," she added. Iceland was followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden in the top five. The UK was ranked 14th, while the USA was at 43rd place.
