Gender gap: India 101st among 136 nations

World Economic Forum survey says country shines relatively on political empowerment but health & education still a drag

India has a long way to go on gender parity, says the latest report on the issue from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Although up four places in ranking from last year, the country is at 101st position on the ‘gender gap index’ among the 136 countries surveyed. In 2012, we ranked 105th.

However,  the country was way ahead, at ninth position in 2013, on women’s empowerment in politics. This seems based on the reservation for women in panchayat elections or names such as Sonia  Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj and Mayawati in national politics. And, of the five legislative assemblies going to the polls in November-December, two (Delhi, Rajasthan) would witness a female contender among the two major parties for chief ministership.

INDIA TOPS THE CHART IN FEMALE HEAD OF STATE INDICATOR

• According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) report, India topped the list in terms of female head of state index, with a female to male ratio of 0.72. However, the report noted no country has reached parity in this indicator.
• India ranks first on that indicator, whereas 65 per cent of the countries that have data on that indicator have never had a female head of state over the past 50 years, said the report.
• The organisation further said there was evidence that women in local government roles in India make decisions with better outcomes for communities than men
• They also appear to be more competent representatives than men, obtaining more resources for their constituencies, despite having significantly lower education and relevant labour market experience, the report said

"In 2013, we observe India as continuing to struggle to demonstrate solid progress towards gender parity," WEF said in its Global Gender Gap Report for 2013.

This is the lowest ranking among the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — nations. South Africa is 17th, followed by Brazil (62nd) and China (69th). (GENDER BENDER?)

Even among its neighbours, India was higher among those surveyed than only Pakistan, which has 135th rank in 2013. China (69th), Sri Lanka (55th) and Bangladesh (75th) were ahead.

“These are disturbing trends and show there is a need for a change in the mindset of the people,” said Amitabh Kundu of the Centre for the Study of Regional Development at Jawaharlal Nehru University here.

 

  The report ranked the countries on their ability to close the gender gap in four areas — economic participation and opportunity, political empowerment, health and survival, educational attainment.

India and 85 other nations saw an improvement in their gender gap from the earlier report.

However, on economic participation, India was 124th rank, a position down from the previous year. This parameter includes salaries, participation and highly skilled employment of the two genders.

The silver lining was political empowerment, mainly representation in decision-making structures. Here, the country was ninth in 2013, up from 17th in 2012. The report says “this is largely down to the number of years it has had a female head of state", a little odd when it has had only one (Pratibha Patil) for five years.

“This shows that gender empowerment is restricted to a particular segment of society,” said Kundu.

The area where India stands worst among all indicators is health and survival. The country is at rank 135, of the 135 countries.

According to the Census data released recently, in 2011, the child (up to six years) sex ratio in India stood at 919 girls per 1,000 boys, the lowest since Independence. This could be one reason behind such a low rank.

In terms of educational attainment, which means access to basic and higher levels of education, the gender disparity was clearly visible as India was positioned 120th. However, this is a rank up from the previous year.