According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual Global Gender Gap Report 2023, released on June 20 2023, India has closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap and ranked 127th out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity at the Global Gender Gap Index 2023 whereas Iceland Topped the index followed by Norway and Finland at 2nd and 3rd rank.
- Thus India has improved by 1.4% points and 8 positions in 2023 compared with the 2022 edition. (India was ranked 135th in the 2022 Index).
The Global Gender Gap Index 2023 rankings:
| Rank | Country | Score 0-1 |
|---|---|---|
| 127 | India | 0.643 |
| 1 | Iceland | 0.912 |
| 2 | Norway | 0.879 |
| 3 | Finland | 0.863 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 0.856 |
| 5 | Sweden | 0.815 |
Subindex Analysis for India:
i.India has attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education. However, it has reached only 36.7% parity on Economic Participation and Opportunity.
ii.There was an increase in parity in wages and income but the shares of women in senior positions and technical roles have dropped slightly since the 2022 edition.
iii.India has registered 25.3% parity on Political Empowerment, with women representing 15.1% of parliamentarians, the highest for India since the inaugural 2006 edition.
iv.In the case of the Health and Survival index with 95% parity, the sex ratio at birth improved by 1.9% points to 92.7%.
India’s Subindex Ranks at Global Gender Gap Index 2023:
| Sub Index | Rank | Score 0-1 |
|---|---|---|
| Economic Participation and Opportunity | 142 | 0.367 |
| Educational Attainment | 26 | 1 |
| Health and Survival | 142 | 0.950 |
| Political Empowerment | 59 | 0.253 |
Global Gender Gap Performance – Region-wise:
- The Global Gender Gap Report 2023 categorizes countries into eight regions: Eurasia and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, Southern Asia, and SubSaharan Africa.
- Gender parity in Europe (76.3%) surpasses the parity level in North America (75%) this year to rank first among regions.
South Asia:
Southern Asia which ranked fifth out of eight regions achieved 63.4% gender parity, the second-lowest score of the eight regions.
| Country | Rank | Score 0-1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional | Global | ||
| Bangladesh | 1 | 59 | 0.722 |
| Bhutan | 2 | 103 | 0.682 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 115 | 0.663 |
| Nepal | 4 | 116 | 0.659 |
| Maldives | 5 | 124 | 0.649 |
| India | 6 | 127 | 0.643 |
| Pakistan | 7 | 142 | 0.575 |
| Iran (Islamic Republic of) | 8 | 143 | 0.575 |
| Afghanistan | 9 | 146 | 0.405 |
Global Analysis:
i.The global gender gap score in 2023 (for all 146 countries) increased by 0.3% points from 68.1% in 2022 to 68.4%.
ii.According to the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index, no country has yet achieved full gender parity, and the top nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap.
iii.With 91.2%, Iceland takes the top position and it also continues to be the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap
iv.Out of the 117 countries with available data since 2017, 18 countries, India (44.4%) including Bolivia (50.4%), and France (42.3%), have achieved representation of women of over 40% in local governance.
v.The overall progress in 2023 is partly due to the improvement in closing the educational attainment gap.
- Thus 117 out of the 146 indexed countries now have closed at least 95% of the gap under educational attainment.
Way forward: In accordance with the report, 131 years will be required for closing the overall gender gap and at the current rate of progress, it will take 169 years for economic parity and 162 years for political parity.
About Global Gender Gap Index:
i.The Global Gender Gap Index was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006 to annually benchmark progress towards gender parity and compare countries’ gender gaps across four key dimensions of Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
ii.The Global Gender Gap Index measures scores on a 0 to 100 scale for each indicator and it is calculated as the ratio of the value of each indicator for women to the value for men.
- A parity score of 1 indicates full parity. The gender gap is the distance from full parity.
iii.2023, the 17th edition of the Global Gender Gap Index, 146 countries in which 102 countries have been covered in all editions since the inaugural one in 2006. Croatia rejoins the 2023 index, whereas Guyana drops out.
About World Economic Forum(WEF)
Headquarters – Cologny/Geneva, Switzerland
Establishment – 1971
Founder & Executive Chairman – Professor Klaus Schwab
President – Børge Brende
