Women and girls represent half of the world's population and therefore half of the world's potential. As the United Nations rightly states, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, it is essential to realizing the full potential of human beings and achieving sustainable development in peaceful societies.
The fight for gender equality is a long-standing global challenge, but how is the world making progress? The findings of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) latest Global Gender Gap Report 2024 are mixed.
The gender gap is expected to narrow to 68.5% by 2024, a slight improvement of 0.1% from the previous year. The global health and survival gender gap has narrowed by 96%. The educational achievement gap has narrowed by 94.9%, the economic participation gap by 60.5% and the political participation gap by 22.5%.
However, substantial efforts remain to be made to achieve full gender equality: according to the report, it will take 131 years, or five generations, until full gender equality is achieved in 2158, the year following the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 2030.
Not surprisingly, Europe tops the 2024 regional gender gap rankings, projected to have closed 75% of its gap by 2024, marking an overall improvement of 6.2 percentage points since 2006. Meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa ranks last among all regions with a gender equality score of 61.7%. Despite this result, the region has been on an overall positive trajectory since 2006, with a gender gap score increasing by 3.9 percentage points.
Gender gap status by sub-index: See the percentage of the gender gap that will be closed in 2024 for each of the four sub-indexes. (Source: WEF)
Where does India stand?
South Asia ranked seventh out of eight global regions with a gender equality score of 63.7 percent, an improvement of 3.9 percentage points since 2006, with Bangladesh achieving a double-digit ranking of 99th, the first time in the region.
India has made slight improvements in women's economic participation and opportunities, and performs relatively well in the political empowerment index (65th) compared to other indicators. However, India's overall performance in South Asia is particularly concerning, as in 2024 India will have closed only 64.1% of its gender gap and will rank 129th overall, slightly lower than in 2023 (127th), behind only the Maldives and Pakistan.
Top 10 most gender equal countries in the world:
While no country has yet achieved complete gender parity, on a more positive note, the Global Gender Gap Report finds that the top 10 countries out of 146 countries in the world have significantly narrowed their gender gaps, catalyzing progress and leading the way in gender equality.
Notably, Iceland continues to lead the global rankings having closed 93.5% of its gender gap, maintaining its position as the top economy in the index for over 15 years. Of the remaining nine countries in the top 10, a staggering eight have closed more than 80% of their gender gaps.
First uploaded on: 24 June 2024 12:59 IST
