From India to Iceland: Contrasting Gender Equality Progress Across Nations
The World Economic Forum has released the 18th edition of its annual Global Gender Gap Report for 2024, which systematically benchmarks gender parity across 146 economies globally. A global forum for public-private collaboration is the World Economic Forum (WEF). With its headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland, the company was founded in 1971. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is primarily recognized for its yearly gathering in Davos, Switzerland, through which world leaders in businesses, education, government, and other domains convene to discuss on worldwide economic matters. It evaluates gender equality in different nations by comparing the differences between men and women in four important domains:
1)Political empowerment
2)Health and survival
3)Educational attainment
4)Economic involvement and opportunity.
The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report shows only moderate progress toward eliminating the gender gap worldwide, with an overall score of 68.5%, up just 0.1 percentage point from the year before. The target year is projected to be 2158 at this rate, meaning it will take 134 years to reach full gender parity.
India dropped two spots to 129th place while Iceland, which has closed 93.5% of its gender gap, continues to be the country with the highest gender parity. It has been at the top of the rankings for 15 years consecutively.
Finland, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden round out the top five. Significant differences are also highlighted in the report, especially in the subindices of Political Empowerment and Economic Participation and Opportunity, where global parity scores are 22.5% and 60.5%, respectively. In Political Empowerment (77.5% disregarded) and Economic Participation & Opportunity (39.5% unmet), the gender disparities are still greatest. Together with Bangladesh, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, and Morocco, India’s economy had one of the lowest levels of economic parity; each country’s estimated earned income showed less than 30% gender parity. Women frequently experience lower earnings, restricted access to credit and financial services, and obstacles to leadership roles, even in areas where progress has been made. Promoting equal pay legislation, expanding access to training and education, and assisting female entrepreneurs are some of the initiatives being taken to solve the issue. There are notable gender disparities in India’s educational achievement as well. The nation comes in at place 112 in this category, with a significant gender gap in literacy rates.
In the political arena in India, women are still disproportionately underrepresented. There are just seven women in the newly established council of ministers, and only two of them are cabinet members. By contrast, there were eight female ministers in the last council, which was disbanded on June 5. Multifaceted strategies are needed to address gender inequities, including legislative initiatives to support equitable opportunities in healthcare, education, economic involvement, and political representation. Social attitudes and cultural norms are also very important in determining the results of gender equality. Although the battle for gender equality is far from ending, the slow but steady development is a result of the combined efforts of all countries, organizations, and people worldwide.
Also Read: Driving Gender Parity: The Role of Flexibility in Retaining Female Leadership
In general, even though there has been some progress, reaching gender parity is still a global challenge that calls for consistent work across sectors and geographical areas. Organizations, governments, and individuals all have an integral part to contribute in improving gender equality and closing the global gender gap.
Links
Global Gender Gap Report – 2024
