Status of Gender Parity; Women's Day Special



Gender Parity- Analysis of Gender Gap Report 2020.

Shashank Vikram Pratap Singh
Ph.D. Scholar
Department of Commerce
Delhi School of Economics
University of Delhi

The debate on equality and inequality is as old as human civilization. It has further deepened into the intellectual discourse with the advent of knowledge and technology-driven economy. In the intellectual climate and deeply rooted academic world, there are a plethora of diverse sets of opinions. Established thinkers and scholars like Smith, Piketty to Richard Wilkinson and many more, have intellectually argued for the advantages and disadvantages of having inequality and not having inequality in the society.
 The term inequality is viewed with the prism of many constructs like income inequality, social inequality, inequality based on gender and many more. When the discrimination is practiced based on gender, it's unquestionable that it becomes highly disastrous for the overall advance progress of any society and the nation as a whole. McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in its 2018 report, stated that how advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth and $700 billion to India’s growth by 2025. 
To monitor and measure the gap between men and women, World Economic Forum (WEF) publishes every year Gender Gap Report since 2006. The report gives lots of insights about the gender gap on the four key dimensions of the human being- Economic Participation and Opportunity; Education Attainment; Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. This year's report has taken 153 countries across eight regions of the world. 
WEF’s 2020 report has made some shocking observation. No country in the world has ever achieved full gender parity. To date 2020, the global gender gap is 68.6%. Meaning hereby, on an average 31.4% gap yet to be closed globally which is expected to take another one century if progress at the current rate. All the top ten countries have closed the gap of at least 80% and the best performer- Iceland has closed 82% of the gap so for. Still, top-performing nations have to close the remaining gap of at least 20%. Out of 149 countries (taken in the last year’s report well), 101 countries have improved their score as compared to last year. 
The Global Gender Gap Index 2020 Rankings (0= imparity and 1= parity)
Top 5 Countries
Bottom 5 Countries
Country
Score(0-1)
Country
Score (0-1)
Iceland
0.877
Congo,Dem. Rep.
0.578
Norway
0.842
Syria
0.567
Finland
0.832
Pakistan
0.564
Sweden
0.820
Iraq
0.530
Nicaragua
0.804
Yemen
0.494
Sources-World Economic Forum,  Global Gender Gap Report, 2020

As compared to previous year ranking, the countries like Ethiopia (+35), Georgia (+25), Mexico (+25), Madagascar (+22), Spain (+21) have gained the most ranking while the countries like Cameroon (-39); Kenya (-33); Bahamas and Bulgaria (-31); Myanmar (-26); Slovenia (-25) has witnessed the most downfall in their rankings. 

The state of gender Gaps based on Subindex (percentage of gender gap closed to date, 2020)
Subindex
Gender Gap Closed (%)
Gender Gap yet to close (%)
The Global Gender Gap Index
69
31
Health and Survival
97
3
Educational Attainment
96
4
Economic Participation and Opportunity
58
42
Political Empowerment
25
75
Sources-World Economic Forum,  Global Gender Gap Report, 2020

There is a significant diverse gap between the four different dimensions of the global gender gap. In the two subindexes namely- health and survival and educational attainment- only 3 and 4, percent gap (respectively) still needs to closed. In contrast to that, the difference between men and women on the Political Empowerment and Economic Participation and Opportunity have remained significantly larger. To date 2020, only around 25% and 58% gap have been closed so far on political empowerment and economic participation respectively. 
Political Empowerment is the most disturbing dimensions as far as gender parity is concerned. No country has fully closed this gap yet. Iceland (70% gap closed)- only county in the world where the presence of women across parliament, ministries, and heads of states is the most widespread as compared to all other countries in the world. Iceland’s score is 10% points more than the second ranked-Norway and is almost four times greater than the global average. Vanuatu and Papua are the two countries in the world, without a single women member of parliament. The report also reveals that only 21% of total ministers (countries covered in this report) are women and there are 32 countries where women represent less than 10% of the minister in the office today. 
When it comes to the head of the states, the data is very pathetic. The report reveals that, over the past 50 years, there has never been a woman head of the state in 85 of 153 countries covered in this report. Interestingly such condition is there in some emerging and advanced economies like- Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.    
There is also a substantial gap between men and women when it comes to Economic Participation and Opportunity. The report reveals that globally only 58% of the gap has been closed so far, still, there is a gap of 42 percent to be closed. Even among the best and the worst (at the bottom in the ranking) performing countries, there is sharp dispersion (40%) in economic participation and opportunity. When it comes to the gap between men and women in the workplace, the top ten countries have closed at least 80% of the gap while the bottom ten countries have only closed 40% of the gap. 
India’s Status
Country
Rank overall
Overall Index
Subindexes (Score; 0= Imparity and 1= Parity)

Regional
Global

Economic Participation and Opportunity (Rank out of 153 /Score)
Educational Attainment (Rank out of 153 /Score)
Health and Survival (Rank out of 153 /Score)
Political Empowerment (Rank out of 153 /Score)
India
4
112
0.668
149/0.354
112/
0.962
150/ 0.944
18/0.411
South Asia


0.661
0.365
0.943
0.947
0.387
Global Average


0.685
0.582
0.957
0.958
0.241
Sources-World Economic Forum,  Global Gender Gap Report, 2020

Gender Gap Subindexes
The Year 2006 (First Report)
The Year 2020

Rank
 Score
Rank
Score
Global Gender Gap Index
98
0.601
112
0.668
Economic participation and opportunity
110
0.397
149
0.354
Educational attainment
102
0.819
112
0.962
Health and survival
103
0.962
150
0.944
Political empowerment
20
0.227
18
0.411
Sources-World Economic Forum,  Global Gender Gap Report, 2020

India’s status is, in fact, worse than some of the countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka) of South Asia. With the overall score of 0.668- which is less than the global average (0.685), it stands at 112th position globally and regionally (South Asia) at 4th positions in the Global Gender Gap Index. The data reveals that there is a huge disparity between men and women. Except for political empowerment dimensions, India’s score in the rest of the other dimensions is even less the average score of South Asia and the world. And in the dimensions like Economic Participation and Opportunity and Health and Survival, India stands at 5th and 4th position respectively from the bottom of the ranking. 
Over the last 15 years (2006-2020), instead of rising India’s ranking, it has dramatically downfallen from 98th position in the year 2006 to 112th positions in the year 2020. Over the same period, its ranks have significantly slipped in every dimension except Political Empowerment (improved two positions). Dimensions like Economic Participation and Opportunity and Health and Survival, have witnessed the incredible downfall- from 110th in 2006 to 149 in 2020 and 103rd in 2006 to 150th in 2020 (respectively). 
Seeing such level of a skewed distribution of the gender gap in India, it propels the policymakers to reverse this situation. Although the task is not as easy. If India progresses at the current pace, it may take another more than half a century to eliminate the gap between men and women. On this Women’s Day on the 8th of March, let's pledge to discourage female based discrimination and help in empowering women for our prosperous nation.   


Special Mention- Deepika Ma'am, Doctoral Student, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell Address to Final Year Students, DOC, DSE.

Image
Dear Young Minds and Future of India Farewell Greetings to All of You We all have entered the third decade of the 21st century, which has given us the wisdom to illustrate the classic example of uncertainties. The battle between lives and livelihoods has got initiated. Suddenly, the old spice of life seems to be missing and new spice of life seems to enter into human lives. Places of interest have no visitors, places of worship are silent, school and other public places all are empty. Except for human beings, others are enjoying it. Animals are freely walking on roads, birds are chirping, no pollution, and overall natural beauty is spreading its mesmerizes elegance with leaps and bounds. Remember, repeatedly nature is sending a message to us- “We are not necessary, the air, water, earth, sky all are fine without us. When you will come back, remember you are my gust, not my masters”. My friends, hope you understand the hidden message loud and clear. Your responsibilities...
Read more

Self-Curfew, the Best Weapon to Fight Against COVID-19.

Image
Self-Curfew and Fight Against COVID-19. Shashank Vikram Pratap Singh  Ph.D. Scholar Department of Commerce Delhi School of Economics University of Delhi. ssvikrampratap@gmail.com The whole globe is witnessing the biggest scathing attack on humanity. In the last more than half a century, the world has not seen such an enormous, more intensified and disastrous attack of deadly and fearful virus called COVID-19. More than 150 nations have witnessed the untimed death of more than 10000 people so far in the last two months at a time when the advancement and supremacy of science and technology are the most pressing subject matters for nations to illustrate their dominance and power.  The complete choking of health care system of even the most advanced and nations having the global best health care facilities, including the US, China and almost whole Europe is the classical example of the mockery of scientific advancement and the invincibility of COV...
Read more

Development Through Six Pillars: Budget 2021

Image
    Development Through Six Pillars: Budget 2021   Shashank Vikram Pratap Singh Assistant Prof. Shri Ram College of Commerce University of Delhi.   Honorable Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman presented the third union budget of Modi government 2.0 at a time when India along with the world is witnessing one of the biggest health crises of centuries. Covid-19 lead staggering negative growth; historical slowdown in major sectors and overall destabilized macroeconomic variables would have made the unusual exercise of budget preparation for the key personal at the ministry of finance in the North Block. FM and her team had the responsibility to bring back the lost glory and stimulate the growth and reestablished the sense of achieved wellbeing, social fabric and community capital among the people of the county.   To achieve these ambitious aspirations, FM set six pillars namely: Health and wellbeing; Infrastructure; Inclusive development; Developme...
Read more