{"id":23552,"date":"2023-06-24T20:10:47","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T14:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?p=23552"},"modified":"2023-06-26T05:47:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:17:56","slug":"bridging-the-gap","status":"publish","type":"editorial-analysis","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/bridging-the-gap","title":{"rendered":"Bridging the gap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Key Indicators of the Report:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are <\/span><b>four<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> key markers of the index:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Economic Participation and Opportunity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Educational Attainment<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Health and Survival<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Political Empowerment\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The index provides <\/span><b>scores between 0 and 1, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">where<\/span><b> 1 indicates full gender parity and 0 indicates full imparity.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What&#8217;s the Report Says for India?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India had closed <\/span><b>64.3% of the overall gender gap.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Economic Participation and Opportunity: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India had reached only 36.7% parity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Education: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The country had attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Wages, Income &#038; Women Participation: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Political Empowerment:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India has registered 25.3% parity, with women making up 15.1% of MPs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Sex Ratio:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For India, the 1.9 percentage point improvement in sex ratio at birth has driven up parity after more than a decade.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Gender Parity: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compared with top scoring countries that register a 94.4% gender parity at birth, the indicator stands at 92.7% for India<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Other Observations Made by the Report:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Iceland is the most gender-equal country <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for the 14th consecutive year and the only one to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Norway (87.9%), Finland (86.3%), and Sweden (81.5%)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are along with Iceland in the top five rankings, highlighting their strong commitment to gender equality<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Neighbors:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The index ranked Pakistan at 142, Bangladesh at 59, China at 107, Nepal at 116, Sri Lanka at 115 and Bhutan at 103.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Women Representation: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of the 117 countries with available data since 2017, 18 \u2014 including Bolivia (50.4%), India (44.4%) and France (42.3%) \u2014 have achieved women\u2019s representation of over 40% in local governance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Gender Parity: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, the Southern Asian region has achieved 63.4% gender parity, the second-lowest of the eight regions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Serious Concerns for India:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Upticks in<\/span><b> parity in wages and income<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Shares of women <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in senior positions and technical roles have dropped<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another concern is India\u2019s performance in <\/span><b>health and survival<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Women <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">end up doing so much <\/span><b>unpaid work <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at home that many do not have the time or the energy to opt for paid work<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women are impeded by <\/span><b>patriarchal and cultural norms<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Women safety <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is another major concern<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Learnings for India:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government must take the report seriously and prioritize improved performance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on achieving positive outcomes in all key indicators for the betterment of people and the state.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urgent action needed to address the underrepresentation of women in parliament (currently at 15.1%).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parliament should act on the <\/span><b>Women&#8217;s Reservation Bill to reserve 33% of seats for women.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Job-assured education for girls can improve development indices, including nutrition, and break the cycle of early marriage and poor maternal and child health.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite pandemic setbacks, efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030 must continue earnestly.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Additional Information:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>World Economic Forum (WEF):<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Swiss nonprofit foundation established in <\/span><b>1971, based in Geneva, Switzerland.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WEF is <\/span><b>committed to improving the situation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<li><b>Major reports published by WEF:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Energy Transition Index<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Competitiveness Report<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global IT Report (WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University publishes this report),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Gender Gap Report<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Risk Report<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Travel and Tourism Report<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Initiatives Taken by the Government to reduce Gender Gap:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a campaign<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to ensure the protection, survival and education of the girl child.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is in order to reach out to rural women and facilitate health, nutrition, skill development, employment, digital literacy, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Rashtriya Mahila Kosh<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an apex microfinance organization that provides micro-credit at concessional terms to poor women for various livelihood and income generating activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Sukanya Samriddhi Account<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a Government of India backed saving scheme targeted at the parents of girl children. The scheme encourages parents to build a fund for the future education of their female child.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Programmes like <\/span><b>Stand-Up India, Mahila e-Haat and Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESSDP)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to promote women entrepreneurship.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Provisions to Remove Gender Inequality:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Constitutional:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>fundamental rights<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guarantee gender equality under the law.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Articles 14 and 15<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> prohibit the state from discriminating based on sex.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Article 15(3)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> states that nothing in this Article prevents the state from making particular arrangements for women and children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Article 243 D<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Constitution provides provision of 33 percent reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions and 33 percent of the office of chairpersons will be reserved for women.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Sustainable Development Goals:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>SDG Goal 5<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> deals to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.\u00a0 Key Indicators of the Report: There are four&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/bridging-the-gap\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Bridging the gap<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[2008,773],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/23552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/editorial-analysis"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/23552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23552"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=23552"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=23552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}