Women’s empowerment in India still has a long way to go if the World Economic Forum report, which has put the country among the bottom 10, when it comes to their participation in economic agenda, is an indicator.
According to the World Economic Forum’s latest Gender Gap Index report
released over the weekend, India has been placed at the 114th position after taking into account economic, political, educational and health parities, among a total 128 countries.
In terms of “economic participation and opportunity” alone, India has fared even worse — at 122nd position, pushing it into the bottom 10.
In the overall ranking, the country has slipped from 98th rank in 2006 when the index included a total of 115 countries. This year’s Gender Gap Index has been topped by Sweden with a gender equality of 81.5 per cent, followed by Norway, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand.
The countries ranked below India include Bahrain, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Iran, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Benin, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Pakistan, Chad and Yemen with the lowest gender equality of 45.1 per cent.
According to the report, India has an overall 59.4 per cent gender equality, while for economic participation and opportunity it stands at 39.8 per cent.
India has fared much better in terms of political empowerment (21st). The country has 106 women in Parliament, 118 in ministerial positions.