Latest news with #GlobalGenderGapIndex
6 days ago
- Business
No Improvement for Japan in 2025 Gender Gap Ranking
Japan Data Gender and Sex Politics Society Jun 16, 2025 A drop in the number of women in the cabinet to just two contributed to Japan remaining at 118th in the Global Gender Gap Index for 2025. Japan's position remained unchanged at 118th in the Global Gender Gap Report issued by the World Economic Forum on June 12, 2025, which ranked 148 countries in terms of gender equality. The WEF report analyzes various statistical data on the status of women using four categories: economy, education, health, and politics. The gender gap index is based on 1.00 being the highest possible score, indicating that gender parity has been achieved, while 0.00 means complete gender disparity. Among Group of Seven countries, Britain was ranked the highest in terms of gender equality, leaping ten places to fourth overall. Germany (9) was the next-highest G7 country, followed by Canada (32), France (35), the United States (42), and Italy (85). Japan was the only G7 nation to fail to place within the top 100. Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru's October 2024 cabinet only included two female ministers (10% of the total), which was a significant drop from the five (25%) in Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's cabinet the previous year. This led to Japan dropping in the ranking for politics from 113th to 125th. 2025 Global Gender Gap Index Rankings Created by based on data from the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2025. Data Sources Global Gender Gap Report 2025 from the World Economic Forum, 2025. (Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.) gender women gender equality
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Mind the gap: on India and the Global Gender Gap Index report
India has dropped two points from its position last year in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index report, holding at 131 out of 148 countries. The parity score is just 64.1%, making it among one of the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia, according to the report released last week. The Index measures gender parity in a country across four aspects — economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival, and political empowerment. While the performance of India in three of the four dimensions is either stable or has marginally improved, the significant lack of achievement in the fourth weighs down the overall result. The report says, in the economic participation and opportunity category, India has improved by +0.9 percentage points. The parity in estimated earned income rises from 28.6% to 29.9%, positively impacting the subindex score, the report said. Scores in labour force participation rate remained the same (45.9%) as last year — India's highest achieved to date. In the educational attainment and health and survival categories, the scores have been driven up by positive shifts. It is in the political empowerment category that India records a drop in parity, since the last evaluation. Female representation in Parliament fell from 14.7% to 13.8% in 2025, lowering the indicator score for the second year in a row below 2023 levels. Also evaluated was the share of women in ministerial roles, which fell from 6.5% to 5.6 %, continuing the sinking trend since 2023. The path ahead is obvious — consolidate and improve on the gains and make efforts to set right the lacunae with policies and political will. India has had a long, shameful tussle on this issue as it toyed with the idea of increasing representation for women in polity. The controversial Women's Reservation Bill was passed in 2023, 27 years after it was first introduced in 1996. The Bill has been visited upon by many charades, was blocked at every turn, and the path to actualisation of the goal was lined with monumental impediments. The present Act reserves one third of the seats for women in Parliament and the State legislatures, but will only be implemented from 2029, after the completion of the Census, and the delimitation exercise. But India climbing up the ranks of a global index should be only secondary to achieving a rounded, applause-worthy, gender parity structure within the country. There is, also, nothing keeping political parties from increasing women's participation in the electoral process, even before the law necessitates it.
Hans India
13-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
India falls two spots in WEF Gender Gap Index, ranks 131
New Delhi: India has ranked 131 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, slipping two places from its position last year. With a parity score of just 64.1 per cent, India is among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia, according to the report released on Thursday. India ranked 129 last year. The Global Gender Gap Index measures gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. 'One of the dimensions where India increases parity is in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where its score improves by +.9 percentage points to 40.7 per cent. While most indicator values remain the same, parity in estimated earned income rises from 28.6 per cent to 29.9 per cent, positively impacting the subindex score,' the report said. Scores in labour force participation rate remained the same (45.9 per cent) as last year -- India's highest achieved to date. In educational attainment, the report said, India scored 97.1 per cent, reflecting positive shifts in female shares for literacy and tertiary education enrolment, which result in positive score improvements for the subindex as a whole. 'India also records higher parity in health and survival, driven by improved scores in sex ratio at birth and in healthy life expectancy,' it said. However, similar to other countries, parity in healthy life expectancy is obtained despite an overall reduction in the life expectancy of men and women, the report said. 'Where India records a slight drop in parity (-0.6 points) since the last edition is in Political Empowerment. Female representation in Parliament falls from 14.7 per cent to 13.8 per cent in 2025, lowering the indicator score for the second year in a row below 2023 levels,' it said. Similarly, the share of women in ministerial roles falls from 6.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent, moving the indicator score (5.9 per cent) further away this year from its highest level (30 per cent in 2019), it said. With notable gains in political empowerment and economic participation, Bangladesh emerged as the best performer in South Asia, jumping 75 ranks to rank 24 globally. Nepal ranked 125, Sri Lanka 130, Bhutan 119, Maldives 138 and Pakistan 148. The report said the global gender gap has closed to 68.8 per cent, marking the strongest annual advancement since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian Express
13-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Knowledge Nugget: Why Global Gender Gap Report 2025 is important for your UPSC exam
Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here's your knowledge nugget for today. (Relevance: Global indices are important markers for comparative understanding of a country's progress. UPSC has asked questions about these indices. The key highlights of these reports are also important for adding value to your Mains answers. In this regard, the comprehensive understanding of this report becomes essential for your exam.) The 19th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 was published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) with the global gender gap at 68.8 per cent for 148 countries, marking the strongest annual advancement since the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet full parity remains 123 years away at current rates. The report shows that across all dimensions in 2024, the gender parity has risen, and in 11 of the 14 indicators, marking a notable acceleration from last year's result. No country has yet achieved full gender parity. 1. The Global Gender Gap Index is released annually by the WEF. It was first introduced in 2006 to benchmark the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. The index lies between 0 and 1, with 1 denoting complete parity. The gender gap is the distance from full parity. 2. 'Among the 148 economies covered in the 2025 index, the Health and Survival gender gap has closed by 96.2%, the Educational Attainment gap by 95.1%, the Economic Participation and Opportunity gap by 61.0%, and the Political Empowerment gap by 22.9%'. The report said. Women represent 41.2 per cent of the global workforce, but a stark gap persists with women only holding 28.8 per cent of top leadership positions, as noted in the report. 3. Iceland retains the world's most gender-equal economy for the 16th consecutive year, closing 92.6% of the gender gap – the only economy to reach 90% parity- followed by Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Bangladesh emerged as the best performer in South Asia, jumping 75 ranks to rank 24 globally. Nepal ranked 125, Sri Lanka 130, Bhutan 119, Maldives 13,8 and Pakistan 148. 4. India has ranked 131 out of 148 countries, slipping two places from its position last year. The Indian economy's overall performance improved in absolute terms by +0.3 points. With a parity score of just 64.1 per cent, India is among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia. In 2024, India ranked 129. 5. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, India's score has improved by +0.9 percentage points to 40.7 per cent. The parity in estimated income rises from 28.6 per cent to 29.9 per cent, positively impacting the subindex score. 6. In educational attainment, the report said, India scored 97.1 per cent, reflecting positive shifts in female shares for literacy and tertiary education enrolment, which result in positive score improvements for the subindex as a whole. 7. 'India also records higher parity in health and survival, driven by improved scores in sex ratio at birth and in healthy life expectancy,' it said. However, similar to other countries, parity in healthy life expectancy is obtained despite an overall reduction in the life expectancy of men and women, the report said. 8. In terms of political empowerment, India experienced a slight decline in parity (-0.6 points) since the last edition. Female representation in Parliament falls from 14.7 per cent to 13.8 per cent in 2025, lowering the indicator score for the second year in a row below 2023 levels. Similarly, the share of women in ministerial roles falls from 6.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent. Top 10 countries closing the gender gap in 2025 📍Gender Inequality Index (GII): GII is published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in their Human Development Report. It measures gender inequalities in three key dimensions — reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market. The score ranges from 0, where women and men fare equally, to 1, where one gender fares as poorly as possible in all measured dimensions. India has a GII value of 0.403, ranking it 102 out of 172 countries in 2023. 📍Gender Development Index (GDI): It is published by UNDP. GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources, measured by female and male estimated earned income. According to the Human Development Report 2025, the 2023 female HDI value for India is 0.631 in contrast with 0.722 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.874. 📍Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI): It is a composite scheme developed by UNDP and UN Women to assess the status of women's achievements relative to men's in four dimensions of human development: life and good health; education, skill-building and knowledge; labour and financial inclusion; and participation in decision-making. 📍Women's Empowerment Index (WEI): It is a composite index developed by UNDP and UN Women to measure the level of women's empowerment across five dimensions: health, education, inclusion, decision-making, and violence against women. A value close to 1 indicates higher empowerment across the five dimensions, and a value close to 0 indicates lower empowerment. India's score is 0.52. Which of the following gives 'Global Gender Gap Index' ranking to the countries of the world? (UPSC CSE 2017) (a) World Economic Forum (b) UN Human Rights Council (c) UN Women (d) World Health Organization (Source: India slips to 131st position in Global Gender Gap Index 2025, WEF Gender Gap Index 2025: Top 10 best and worst countries for gender parity, Where do women stand in global indices? Must-know insights for UPSC aspirants, Knowledge Nugget: Why Human Development Report 2025 is UPSC essential) Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X. 🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for May 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at Khushboo Kumari is a Deputy Copy Editor with The Indian Express. She has done her graduation and post-graduation in History from the University of Delhi. At The Indian Express, she writes for the UPSC section. She holds experience in UPSC-related content development. You can contact her via email: ... Read More
Hans India
13-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Gender Gap Index 2025: India slips to 131st position
New York: India has ranked 131 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, slipping two places from its position last year. With a parity score of just 64.1%, India is among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia, according to the report released on Thursday. India ranked 129 last year. The Global Gender Gap Index measures gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. The Indian economy's overall performance improved in absolute terms by +0.3 points. "One of the dimensions where India increases parity is in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where its score improves by +.9 percentage points to 40.7%.
