Gender gaps will hurt growth goals

India has dropped two spots in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index released last week, after having slipped two positions last year as well. It is ranked 131 among 148 countries, with a parity score of just 64.1%. India is among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia. Bangladesh is ranked 24 globally; India is behind Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This continuing decline should be seen against an improvement in gender parity at the global level – improvements have been reported in most indicators that form the basis of the index. The report says it will take 123 years to achieve full gender parity globally, as against the 143 years estimated last year. It also shows that many lower-income economies have made more progress than some high-income economies in closing the gender gap. This is heartening because gender parity contributes significantly to economic growth.

The index evaluates gender parity on four parameters: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. While India’s performance was stable or slightly better than last year on three parameters, it slipped in political empowerment, affecting its overall score. Economic participation and opportunity reported improvement by 0.9 percentage points. There was no progress in the labour force participation rate which remained at last year’s 45.9%. There is gender-based segregation in all fields, with women mostly engaged in lower-paying sectors such as healthcare and education. There is a considerable wage gap between male and female workers, and a very large part of the female workforce is engaged in unpaid labour. There was improvement in the categories of education and health and survival but it needs to pick up pace.

The biggest slippage since last year came in the political empowerment category. Representation of women in parliament declined from 14.7% to 13.8%, lowering the index score for the second year in a row. The share of women in ministerial positions fell from 6.5% to 5.6%. These have impacted the country’s overall rank. Implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which was passed in 2023, can make a difference. However, it is doubtful whether the law will be implemented ahead of the 2029 election as the census may not be completed by then. There is a need for improvement in women’s participation in all areas, especially in economic activities – a marginal rise can yield significant economic and social outcomes. Without addressing its gender gaps in critical areas, India’s goal of being a truly developed nation will remain distant.