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Gender gap widens

in the country

India moves down the ladder from its 108th to 112th position last year on the WEF’s
Gender Gap Report to rank below countries like China (106th) and Sri Lanka (102nd)
and Nepal (101st), reports tehelka bureau

ndia has slipped four places to countries like China (106th), Sri Lanka WEF reportedly said.
rank 112th globally in terms of (102nd), Nepal (101st), Brazil (92nd), In- Geneva-based WEF, an internation-
gender gap amid widening dis- donesia (85th) and Bangladesh (50th). al organisation for public-private coop-
parity in terms of women’s health Yemen is ranked the worst (153rd), eration, said this year’s improvement
I and survival and economic par- while Iraq is 152nd and Pakistan 151st. can largely be ascribed to a significant
ticipation — the two areas where the “The time it will take to close the gen- increase in the number of women in
country is now ranked in the bottom- der gap narrowed to 99.5 years in 2019. politics. The political gender gap will
five, showed an annual survey. While While an improvement on 2018 — take 95 years to close, compared to 107
Iceland remains the world’s most gen- when the gap was calculated to take 108 years last year. Worldwide, women now
der-neutral country, India has moved years to close — it still means parity be- hold 25.2 per cent of parliamentary
down the ladder from its 108th position tween men and women across health, lower-house seats and 21.2 per cent of
last year on the World Economic Fo- education, work and politics will take ministerial positions, compared to 24.1
rum’s Gender Gap Report to rank below more than a lifetime to achieve,” the per cent and 19 per cent, respectively

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