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Global gender pay gap to close in 134 years – Report
The annual report tracks gender gaps in four key parameters: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
At the current rate of progress, it will take 134 years to reach full parity in 2158. Photo Credit: World Economic Forum
The 2024 Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum has stated that it will take the world another 134 years or five generations to close the existing gender gap at the current pace.
The global gender gap in 2024 stands at 68.5%, just 0.1 percentage point lower than in 2023, according to the 2024 Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum.
The annual report tracks gender gaps in four key parameters: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
In the 2024 report, India is ranked 129 out of 146 countries, two positions lower than in 2023.
The report further noted some progress in gender equality over the last two decades, stating that 97% of economies included in the 2024 index have closed more than 60% of their gender gap, compared to 85% in 2006.
Iceland has topped the index for the past fifteen years, being the only country to close more than 90% of its gender gap.
“Among the 146 economies covered in the report, the Health and Survival gender gap has closed by 96%, Educational Attainment by 94.9%, Economic Participation and Opportunity by 60.5%, and Political Empowerment by 22.5%,” the report said.
India, ranked 129 out of 146 countries, is lagging behind in the South Asian region. It is fifth among the seven South Asian economies included in the report, ahead of Maldives (132) and Pakistan (145), but behind Bangladesh (99), Nepal (117), Sri Lanka (122), and Bhutan (124).
“With a population of over 1.4 billion, India (129th) has closed 64.1% of its gender gap in 2024. This result places the Southern Asian economy -2 ranks lower than the previous edition, with a marginally lower score (0.17 percentage points).
“This slight regression is mainly the result of small declines in Educational Attainment and Political Empowerment while Economic Participation and Opportunity slightly improves,” the report mentioned.
It continued, “In the Political Empowerment subindex, India scores within the top-10 on the head-of-state indicator (40.7%). India’s scores for women’s representation at the federal level, in ministerial positions (6.9%), and in parliament (17.2%), remain relatively low.”
