India Slips To 112 Of 153 Countries In Global Gender Gap Index

Women's safety is already questionable, and now India slips to 112th rank in the World Economic Forum Gender Gap report 2020. Iceland topped the list followed by Norway and Finland. Gender parity is a statistical measure that compares a particular indicator among women, like average income, to the same indicator among men.

Key Takeaways:

• The Global Gender Gap report 2020 was published by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
• Iceland remained the world's most gender-neutral country in the world and topped the list.
• India slipped down to 112th spot from 108th rank last year and is ranked below its neighbouring countries like China (106th), Sri Lanka (102nd), Nepal (101st), Brazil (92nd), Indonesia (85th) and Bangladesh (50th).
• Yemen is ranked the worst (153rd), while Iraq is 152nd and Pakistan 151st.

None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and most likely nor will our children. That’s the finding of the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, which reveals that gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years.

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Gender Parity On The Basis Of Four Dimensions

This is the 14th year since the time when the Global Gender Gap report was first published by WEF. The report is analysed on the basis of four dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. The report also mentions that though women's representation in politics has improved, it has contributed very little towards the betterment of the overall scenario.

“The report presents a decidedly mixed picture. Overall, the quest towards gender parity has improved, ducking back under a century and registering a marked improvement on the 108 years in the 2018 index. Greater political representation for women has contributed to this, but overall the political arena remains the worst-performing dimension,” the report reads.

What Is Gender Parity

Gender parity is a statistical measure that compares a particular indicator among women, like average income, to the same indicator among men. “Gender parity has a fundamental bearing on whether or not economies and societies thrive. Developing and deploying one-half of the world’s available talent has a huge bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide,” the report reads.

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Top Countries In Gender Parity And India- A Comparison

Finland recently made it to the global headlines when it elected Sanna Marin as its Prime Minister, the youngest Prime Minister at an age of 34 years. In the global gender parity report, Finland occupies the 3rd position, up to one spot from last year. In fact, all five parties currently leading the country are headed by women. However, India, which stands at 112th spot has a dismal record when it comes to women's representation in politics. In India, however, though record number of women MPs entered the Parliament in 2019, they constituted a meagre 14.3 percent in Lok Sabha and 10.41 percent in Rajya Sabha.

Iceland remained the world's most gender-neutral country in the world and topped the list.

As far as Education is concerned, the female literacy rate is 99 percent in Iceland as per 2003. In India, female literacy rate as per the 2011 census stands at 64.60 percent, whereas male literacy rate stands at 80.9 percent, indicating the prevalent gender gap.

Picture Credit: CEB Global

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