Women are still facing barriers to leadership positions in the government and private sector in India and across the Asia/Pacific region, according to MasterCard’s latest Index of Women’s Advancement.
The ‘MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement’ measures the socio-economic standing of women across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Index comprises three main indicators which are derived from additional sub-indicators: Employment (Workforce Participation, Regular Employment), Education (Secondary Education, Tertiary Education) and Leadership (Business Owners, Business Leaders, Political leaders).
Each indicator measures the ratio of women to every 100 men in each of the 14 Asia/Pacific markets covered by the research. Scores are indexed to 100 to indicate how close or how far women in each market are to achieving socio-economic parity with men. A score under 100 indicates gender inequality in favor of males, while a score above 100 indicates inequality in favor of females. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes.
Overall, amongst the 14 Asia/Pacific markets, New Zealand ranked first (77.8 Index Score), followed by Australia (76.0), the Philippines (70.5), Singapore (67.5) and Taiwan (64.7). At the other end of spectrum, India (38.0), Japan (48.1) and Korea (49.7) had Index scores indicating that much more can be done to achieve gender parity, the report said.
The education ranking of 79.3 shows that Indian women have access to secondary and tertiary education, but there are barriers preventing them from taking top positions in the government or private sector, as indicated by the leadership ranking of 15.9.
The employment ranking of 43.6 shows that some immediate improvements are required to enhance women’s participation in the workforce and to ensure that they are able to find regular employment.
Overall, the survey indicates that there is a lot of room for improvement and a clear need for affirmative action to ensure Women’s advancement in Indian society and the workplace.
