India Falls to 129th in Global Gender Gap Index: Urgent Call for Action

India has slipped two places to 129th position in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index. While Iceland retained the top spot, India ranked fifth within South Asia. Despite improvements in economic parity, educational attainment, and political empowerment saw declines, with urgent calls for renewed global commitment to gender parity.

India has slipped two places to 129th position in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, according to the latest rankings published on Wednesday. Iceland maintained its top position in the global rankings.

Within South Asia, India was ranked fifth, behind Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, with Pakistan at the bottom.

Globally, Sudan ranked last among 146 countries, with Pakistan slipping to 145th place. India is among economies with the lowest economic parity levels, registering less than 30% gender parity in estimated earned income.

However, India showed strong gender parity in secondary education enrollment and political empowerment, achieving 10th place in the number of years with female/male heads of state in the last 50 years. Despite these bright spots, India's overall gender gap closure stands at 64.1% in 2024, a slight decline from 64.2% last year.

The WEF noted a consistent upward trend in India's economic parity over the past four years but urged renewed commitment to closing the gender gap. 'Despite some bright spots, the slow and incremental gains highlighted in this year's Global Gender Gap Report underscore the urgent need for a renewed global commitment to achieving gender parity, particularly in economic and political spheres,' said WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi.

Iceland was followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden in the top five. The UK ranked 14th, while the USA was at 43rd place, emphasizing the global nature of the challenge.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)