India had slipped 28 places to rank 140 among 156 countries, as well as become the third-worst performing country in South Asia, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Discrimination Report 2021. Last year, India had ranked 112 among 153 countries.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased inequality in the world, the report said. The year of the pandemic saw the time taken to achieve gender equality go up by 36 years. It will now take about 135.6 years as opposed to the 99.5 years it was till last year, according to the report, released on March 30 this year.
Among India’s neighbours, Bangladesh is ranked 65, Nepal 106, Pakistan 153, Afghanistan 156, Bhutan 130 and Sri Lanka 116. In South Asian countries, only Pakistan and Afghanistan are below India in the list. The report said South Asia is the second-worst performing region of the world, in terms of gender gap.
In terms of gender equality, Iceland ranked first for the 12th consecutive year. The level of equality there is about 90 per cent, and it has the least gender-based discrimination. Finland stood second, Norway third, New Zealand fourth and Sweden fifth in the list.
Nations generally considered backward, such as Namibia, Rwanda and Lithuania, are also among the top 10 nations in terms of gender equality.
The report of the World Economic Forum measures the gender gap index on the basis of four key parameters — economic participation and opportunity, education, health and survival and political empowerment.
Among the highlights of the report are:
Women’s participation in senior and managerial posts is low. Only 14.6 per cent of such posts were occupied by women, and only 8.9 per cent of companies have women as top managers. This difference is also visible in women’s salaries as well as the female literacy rate.
In terms of gender-based literacy, as compared to 17.6 per cent of men, 34.2 per cent of women are illiterate.
India is among the bottom five countries in the sub-index related to health and survival.
India has also slipped further in the list of economic participation and opportunity. According to the report, the gender discrimination ratio in this area has risen by three per cent to 32.6 per cent.
Thirty seven countries have achieved gender equality in the field of education.
The report showed a decline in female labour participation in India rate too — from 24.8 per cent to 22.3 per cent. The report also recorded shrinking of women’s participation in professional and technical fields — it now stands at 29.2 per cent.
According to the report, the most significant fall in India’s numbers has occurred in the political empowerment sub-index. The number of female ministers has decreased by 13.5 per cent (it was 23.1 per cent in 2019) and stands at 9.1 per cent).
Due to gender-biased mindset, there has also been a huge gap in the birth sex ratio. Besides, one in four women has had to suffer domestic violence, the report added.
