A global think-tank today placed India among the 20 countries, where the gender gap is the widest, while the country is sixth in economic inequality between men and women.
In its Global Gender Gap Report 2008 released today, Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked India at 113th position among 130 countries in the annual list, where Norway has moved to the top from its third position last year.
The rankings are based on four parameters, economic participation and opportunity, education attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival.
Norway, which has replaced Sweden at the first position, is followed by Finland, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand, Philippines, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands and Latvia in the top ten. The Nordic countries have occupied all the four top positions in the list.
India has improved its overall ranking by one position from 114th last year, primarily due to improvement in better than average performance in political empowerment space.
In terms of economic participation and opportunity, India has been ranked 125th.
The country is placed at 25th rank in terms of political empowerment, while it is ranked 116th and 128th in terms of educational attainment and health and survival, respectively.
In its overall ranking, India is ranked lowest among the four BRIC countries. The neighbouring China has jumped 17 places to 57th rank this year on the back of narrowing gender gaps in educational attainment, economic participation and political participation.
