What is Global Gender Gap Index?
Global Gender Gap Index (GGG) is an index released by the World Economic Forum that benchmarks countries on their progress towards gender parity on the basis of four key dimensions:
- Economic participation and opportunities
- Educational attainment
- Health and survival
- Political Empowerment
This index gives scores between 0 and 1 to the countries where 1 shows full gender parity while 0 shows complete gender imparity.
Global Gender Gap Index 2022 (GGG)
India is pegged at 135 out of 146 countries in Global Gender Gap Index 2022 according to the World Economic Forum. India’s overall index has improved from 0.625 (in 2021) to 0.629 (in 2022). It has been thus recorded that India has got the 7th highest score in the last 16 years.
(1) Economic participation & opportunities
It refers to the participation of women in the labor force, equal wages having done the same amount of work, and earned income. In this parameter, India got a very low rank of 143 out of 146 countries. This score has been improved from 0.326 (in 2021) to 0.350. In 2021, India had a rank of 151 out of 156 countries Indias’s score is much lower than the global average score. Only countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are behind India where Afghanistan is the worst performing.
(2) Educational attainment
It refers to the literacy rates and enrolment rates in primary, secondary, and tertiary education sectors. India is ranked 107th out of 146 countries which shows that India’s score has marginally worsened since last year. In 2021, India was ranked 114 out of 156 countries.
(3) Health & Survival
It refers to the sex ratio at birth (in %) & life expectancy (in years). India is ranked last i.e. 146 in this parameter among all the countries which makes it a serious matter of concern.
(4) Political Empowerment
It refers to the percentage of women in parliament and in ministerial positions. India ranks the highest i.e. 48th out of 146 countries. Notwithstanding its rank, its score is quite low at 0.267. Some of the best-ranking countries in this parameter have scored much better. Iceland is ranked 1 with a score of 0.874 and Bangladesh is ranked 9 with a score of 0.546.
Global Findings
Iceland has retained its position as the world’s most gender-equal country. The Scandinavian countries, Finland, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden are the top 5 countries in this index. Afghanistan is the worst performing of all the countries. Overall Global Gender Gap Index is closed by 68.1%. By looking at the current rate of progress, it can be estimated that it would take around 132 years for India to reach full gender parity.