Bridging the gap

Context:

India has climbed eight places from last year in the annual Gender Gap Report, 2023, and is now ranked 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity. But this improved statistic, closing 64.3% of the overall gender gap, is hardly a cause for cheer. 

Key Indicators of the Report:

There are four key markers of the index:

• Economic Participation and Opportunity
• Educational Attainment
• Health and Survival
• Political Empowerment 
  • The index provides scores between 0 and 1, where 1 indicates full gender parity and 0 indicates full imparity.

What’s the Report Says for India?

• India had closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap. 
• Economic Participation and Opportunity: India had reached only 36.7% parity.
• Education: The country had attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education.
• Wages, Income & Women Participation: There had been an uptick in parity in wages and income, while the share of women in senior positions and technical roles had dropped slightly since the last edition.
• Political Empowerment: India has registered 25.3% parity, with women making up 15.1% of MPs.
• Sex Ratio: For India, the 1.9 percentage point improvement in sex ratio at birth has driven up parity after more than a decade.
• Gender Parity: Compared with top scoring countries that register a 94.4% gender parity at birth, the indicator stands at 92.7% for India

Other Observations Made by the Report:

• Iceland is the most gender-equal country for the 14th consecutive year and the only one to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.
• Norway (87.9%), Finland (86.3%), and Sweden (81.5%) are along with Iceland in the top five rankings, highlighting their strong commitment to gender equality
• Neighbors: The index ranked Pakistan at 142, Bangladesh at 59, China at 107, Nepal at 116, Sri Lanka at 115 and Bhutan at 103. 
• Women Representation: Of the 117 countries with available data since 2017, 18 — including Bolivia (50.4%), India (44.4%) and France (42.3%) — have achieved women’s representation of over 40% in local governance.
• Gender Parity: Overall, the Southern Asian region has achieved 63.4% gender parity, the second-lowest of the eight regions.

Serious Concerns for India:

• Upticks in parity in wages and income
• Shares of women in senior positions and technical roles have dropped
• Another concern is India’s performance in health and survival
• Women end up doing so much unpaid work at home that many do not have the time or the energy to opt for paid work
• Women are impeded by patriarchal and cultural norms
• Women safety is another major concern

Learnings for India:

• Government must take the report seriously and prioritize improved performance.
• Focus on achieving positive outcomes in all key indicators for the betterment of people and the state.
• Urgent action needed to address the underrepresentation of women in parliament (currently at 15.1%).
• Parliament should act on the Women’s Reservation Bill to reserve 33% of seats for women.
• Job-assured education for girls can improve development indices, including nutrition, and break the cycle of early marriage and poor maternal and child health.
• Despite pandemic setbacks, efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030 must continue earnestly.

Conclusion:

India has a window of opportunity to improve in each so that one half of the most populous country in the world may contribute to the economy, growth and overall well-being of society.