India slipped to 112th position in Gender Gap Index-2019 released by World Economic Forum (WEF). India has slipped four places in terms of gender equality amid increasing disparity in terms of women’s participation in the development of the country.
India has had its ranks at the bottom five on health and economic fronts.
Last year, in 2018, India had done slightly better. It was ranked at 108th position on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. The report as a whole highlights that as per the present scenario, workplace inequality will not be erased until the year 2276.
The first WEF Gender Gap Index came in 2006 when India was ranked at 98th position.
WEF at present uses four metrics to give overall ranking that worsened India’s ranking from the very next year. India in this year ranks has been ranked at 150th place on health and survival, 112th on educational attainment and 149th in economic participation.
It was mentioned in the report that there are very few economic opportunities for women available in India. Along with India, some of the other countries including their percentages are- Pakistan at 32.7 percent, Yemen at 27.3 percent and Iraq at 22.7 percent. The report showed that India has an extremely low (13.8 percent) women representation on company boards.
World Economic Forum (WEF) as a whole kept Nordic countries on the top of the list. Iceland (1st) is ranked as the most appropriate country for women representation followed by Norway (2nd) Finland (3rd) and Sweden (4th). Some other countries that will follow the top ones in the top 10 list are- Nicaragua, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Rwanda, and Germany.
Apart from that, India’s neighbors and their ranking are as follows- China at 106th, Bangladesh at 50th, Brazil at 92nd, Nepal at 101st, Indonesia at 85th and Sri Lanka at 102nd.
The report suggested that it will take at least 95 years to close the political gender gap prevalent between both genders. Women, in general, hold 25.2 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide.
