India ranked 95th in 129 countries in new Gender Equality Index

India was ranked 95^th among 129 countries in new SDG(Sustainable Development Goals) Gender Equality Index with 56.2 scores. The gender gap index of the World Economic Forum had ranked India with 108.

Key Points:

• The index accounted for 14 out of 17 SDGs.
• The countries were ranked with a score out of 100. A score of 50 signified that a country is about halfway to meet a goal.
• The ranking found that 1.4 billion girls and women living in countries got a “very poor” grade. The global average score of the 129 countries, which represented 95% of the world’s girls and women, is 65.7 out of 100 (“poor” in the index).
• 2.8 billion girls and women live in countries that get either a “very poor” (59 and below) or “poor” score (60-69) on gender equality. Only 8% of the world’s population of girls and women live in countries which received a “good” gender equality score (80-89) and no country achieved an “excellent” overall score of 90 or above.

Top 10 Countries:

• The highest goal scores are on health (79.9), hunger & nutrition (76.2), and energy (71.8). Its lowest goal scores are on partnerships (18.3, in the bottom 10 countries worldwide) with industry, infrastructure and innovation (38.1), and climate (43.4).
• India scored 95.3 on the percentage of female students enrolled in primary education who are overage. Some of India’s lowest scores on indicators include the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (score 23.6, women made up 11.8% of Parliament in 2018). On seats held by women in the Supreme Court (4%), India has a score of 18.2.
• On gender-based violence, indicators showed proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18 (27.3%), women who agreed that a husband/partner is justified in beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances (47.0%), and women aged 15+ who reported that they “feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where she lives” (69.1%).

About SDG Gender Index:
The SDG Gender Index has been developed by Equal Measures 2030, a joint effort of regional and global organizations including African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC).