Global gender index: India mounted to 108th position

India has improved its position in World Economic Forum (WEF) Global gender index (up from 114 of the 142 countries in 2014) with a score of 0.664.

• India has been ranked at 108th position out of 145 countries.
• India ranks among the most improved countries in the region in terms of political representation.

Top 10 performers

India’s ranking in different fields
Women in the workforce – India fell five places and ranked at 139^th out of 145 countries.
Health and survival sub-index – Placed at 143^rd out of 145, just ahead of China and Albania
Sex ratio at birth – 143^rd, ahead only of China and Armenia
Educational attainment – Marginally improvement with one place from 126^th rank in 2014 to 125^th in 2015
Female to male ratio – India’s labour force participation is 0.35 compared to 0.36 last year.
Income disparity – Women earning an estimated average of $2,257 per year compared with $9,175 for men.

 

Reason behind improvement in overall ranking
There are more women in positions of political leadership jumping from 9% to 22% in the cabinet. PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet has six women ministers.

• The 16th Lok Sabha also saw a rise in the number of women parliamentarians from 4% to 12.15%.

Keys

Women ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
• Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla
• Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani
• Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi

Women CMs

• Anandi Ben in Gujarat
• J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu
• Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan
• Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal