Despite consistent efforts towards women empowerment, it has not led to commensurate strides in women’s lives. Discuss it with respect to Global Gender Gap Report 2017.
Refer – The Indian Express
IAS Parliament 7 years
KEY POINTS
· The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, 2017 ranked India, 108 out of 144 countries.
· A fall of 21 places from last year’s 87 and also it is the lowest since the index was developed in 2006.
· The Report benchmarks countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions:
a) Economic Participation and Opportunity,
b) Educational Attainment,
c) Health and Survival,
d) Political Empowerment.
· In addition, this year’s edition also analyses the dynamics of gender gaps across industry talent pools and occupations.
Reasons for low ranking
· The report flags two indicators as being particularly guilty.
· The first is “health and survival”, where India is in the bottom four, largely as a result of its losing battle against a falling sex ratio at birth and the lack of access to healthcare.
· The second is economic participation and opportunities for women.
· Despite gains in education, women’s work participation rate stands at an abysmal 27 per cent.
· According to a World Bank report, about 19.6 million women have dropped out of the workforce between 2004-05 and 2011-12.
· Even when women earn, says the WEF report, they are paid 60 per cent less than men for similar work done.
· Most of the work they do is unpaid labour — at home, in the fields and in childcare.
Bangladesh’s experience
· Bangladesh, at the 47th spot, is an example of how political empowerment — 20 per cent of its legislators in parliament are women, 45 per cent of women are in the workforce — has levelled the field considerably for its women.
· In contrast, only 12 per cent of legislators in India are women.
Solutions
· Central and State governments have to re-assess ongoing schemes and to reinvest more heavily in the nutrition and health of women.
· For a society to be gender-just, greater participation of women in the workforce and more women in leadership roles are must.
· The time for change is now, and it ought to start at the top with the political class.
