0.1627
900 319 0030
x

Social Justice

iasparliament Logo
November 04, 2017

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

1 comments
Login or Register to Post Comments

IAS Parliament 6 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.

ARCHIVES

MONTH/YEARWISE - MAINSTORMING

Free UPSC Interview Guidance Programme