Global Gender Gap Index: India is the best in sending girls to primary schools, universities but fails with high schools

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Global Gender Gap Index: India is the best in sending girls to primary schools, universities but fails with high schools
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  • India ranked at 135th position in the Global Gender Gap index report by World Economic Forum.
  • There are many reasons why India continues to rank low, and for women, the parity starts at or even before birth.
  • Surprisingly, it ranks first in terms of enrolment in primary education but falls to 79 in secondary education.
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According to the World Economic Forum, India has improved its gender parity ratios. Though it’s on the bottom end and ranks 135 out of 146 countries, it registered a five-position jump in the last year.

“In 2022, India scores 0.6, which is its seventh-highest score in the last 16 years. With a female population of approximately 662 million, India’s level of attainment weighs heavily on regional rankings,” the report said. But, it still ranks lower than many underdeveloped countries across parameters.

It starts at birth


There are many reasons why India continues to rank low as per the Global Gender Gap Report, and for women, the parity starts at or even before birth.

It ranks fifth from the bottom in terms of sex ratio at birth, and it is the lowest country – ranking 146 in terms of health and survival as per the report.

Surprisingly, it ranks first in terms of enrolment in primary education but falls to 79 in terms of secondary education. However, it claims back its numero uno position in tertiary education enrollment – possibly indicating that economic status plays a large role in female education.

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Fewer educated and uneducated women both are participating less in the labour force and India still scrapes the bottom of the barrel when it comes to estimated earned income standing at 140.

Wages are unequal and at managerial levels – it’s low there too


However, when it comes to wage equality it is at 122nd and doesn’t improve even for the subset of senior officials and managers too which is at 123. For the professional and technical women though, it’s five places ahead.

“Increases in the share of women in professional and technical roles were most notable in Nepal, Bangladesh and India,” the report said.

Pay gaps over the entirety of a working career are creating gender wealth gaps, says the report. On average, wealth gaps remain 11% for frontline operational workers and 31% for professional and technical workers. For senior and management workers, the pay gap generates an average wealth gap of 38%.

“This could explain why women in leadership roles also increasingly lag behind their male counterparts in the senior stages of their careers, with the proportion of women in the workforce decreasing along the corporate ladder. In India, the representation of females has dropped from 29% at the senior level to a staggering 18% at the managerial level,” the report added.

Lawmakers low but years with a female head - a surprise


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Now more than ever, women need aid. “The cost of living crisis is impacting women disproportionately after the shock of labour market losses during the pandemic and the continued inadequacy of care infrastructure,” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum.

Zahidi believes that the government and businesses must make two sets of efforts – targeted policies to support women’s return to the workforce and women’s talent development in the industries of the future. However, India ranks low in terms of legislators and lawmakers who can provide them with the needed aid.

It does rank well in a surprising category – years with a female versus male as head of state in the last 50 years. It ranks eighth in this parameter which shows that few countries have ever seen female leaders and even fewer stuck around longer, globally.

IndexRank in 2021Rank in 2022
Overall Global Gender Gap140135
Economic participation and opportunity151143
Educational attainment114107
Health and survival155146
Political empowerment5148
Source: WEF report

As per the WEF report, women are also finding a way to remedy the fact that few of them are being considered for top roles. They are becoming business owners. According to the report, the number of female entrepreneurs has grown by 2.68 times more than the men between 2016 and 2021.

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