- India has slipped 28 places to 140 in 2021 (from 112 in 2020).
- The Global Gender Gap score in 2021 stands at 67.7% (remaining gap to close – 32.3%), the gap has widened by almost 0.6 percentage points.
- It will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide. It has increased by a generation (i.e. 36 years) from 99.5 years to 135.6 years due to the effect of the Pandemic.
Rank | Country | Score (0-1) |
---|---|---|
140 | India | 0.625 |
1 | Iceland | 0.892 |
2 | Finland | 0.861 |
3 | Norway | 0.849 |
Bottom Ranked Countries:
- Afghanistan (156), Yemen (155) & Iraq (154) took the last 3 positions in the rankings.
Indicators
The Global Gender Gap Index is based on the evolution of gender-based gaps among 4-key dimensions – Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, health and survival & Political empowerment.
Global Conditions
- At 67.7% (global gender gap score 2021), the world will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide.
Regional Wise Performers
i.Among regions of the world,
- South Asia is the second-lowest performer on the index with 62.3% of its overall gender gap closed.
- The Middle East & North Africa are the lowest performers with the largest gap of 60.9%.
- The top progressed regions in Gender parity are Western Europe (77.6%), North America (76.4%).
Among the South Asian Countries,
- Bangladesh was the top performer on the Gender Gap Index with a global ranking of 65, followed by Nepal at 106, Sri Lanka at 116, and Bhutan at 130.
- Afghanistan (156) & Pakistan (153) were the only countries behind India in the South Asian Region.
Regarding India
- India has closed 62.5% of its gender gap to date.
- India’s gender gap widened by 3% in 2020, leading to a 32.6% gap closed till date.
- The estimated earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men’s in the Economic Participation & Opportunity Index.
- India, home to 0.65 Billion women, has widened its gender gap from around 66.8% in 2020 to 62.5% in 2021.
- The income of an average woman in India is below 20.7% of that of an average man.
India’s Ranking based on Sub Index
- Economic Participation and Opportunity – 151
- Educational Attainment – 114
- Health & Survival – 155
- Political Empowerment – 51
Causes of Downfall in Rankings
Political empowerment subindex
- The major reason of India’s decline was due to decrease in this Women Political empowerment subindex. India declined by 13.5 percentage points in this subindex.
- Women ministers have declined to 9.1% in 2021 (from 23.1% in 2019).
- Another factor was decrease in women’s labor force participation rate, which decreased from 24.8% to 22.3%.
Recent Related News:
i.January 30, 2021, The 51st Edition of 2021 WEF Annual Meeting called ‘The Davos Agenda 2021’ took place virtually from January 25-29, 2021.
ii.March 6, 2021, According to a report compiled by the economists of Bank of America (BofA), Gender inequality has cost the world USD 70 Trillion since 1990.
About World Economic Forum (WEF):
Executive Chairman – Klaus Schwab
Headquarters – Cologny, Switzerland