India gets poor 101st rank on global gender gap index

The Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) placed India at a low 101^st rank on a Global Gender Gap Index which ranked 136 nations on how well resources and opportunities are divided between men and women in four broad areas of economy, politics, education and health. Despite India’s improvement on the Index by four positions since 2012, the performance indicates poor state of affairs in gender parity.

Key observations of Global Gender Gap Index :

• Ranked very high at 9^th place for political empowerment
• Placed at second-lowest position (135^th) for health and survival
• Ranked at a low of 124^th for economic participation and opportunity
• Positioned at 120^th for educational attainment
• Among five BRICS nations, it still remains lowest-ranked

Who are the top performing countries on Global Gender Gap Index 2013?

Top-10 positions on the global have been retained by:

1. Iceland
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Sweden 
5. Philippines
6. Ireland
7. New Zealand
8. Denmark
9. Switzerland
10. Nicaragua

Other major countries:

• Germany at 14^th
• South Africa at 17^th
• UK at 23^rd
• Russia at 61^st
• Brazil at 62^nd 
• China at 69^th

The nations that have been placed below India also include Japan (105^th), UAE (109^th), Republic of Korea (111^th), Bahrain (112^th) and Qatar (115^th).
Pakistan at 135^th and Yemen at 136^th are the countries ranked lowest.

How did India managed a high-ranking in political empowerment?

The high rank for political empowerment is mostly because of India getting the top-most score in terms of number of years with a female head of state (President), as its political scores is not very good for factors like number of women in Parliament and women in ministerial positions. While no country has reached parity in terms of years with a female head of state, India has managed to get top rank for this indicator, whereas 65% of countries have never had a female head of state over the past 50 years. As per WEF, increased political participation has helped narrow the global gender gap across the world.