India ranks 129th on Global Gender Gap index, Iceland on top: WEF
New Delhi, Jun 12: India has slipped two places on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap index to 129th place, while Iceland retained its top position in the rankings published on Wednesday.
Within South Asia, India was ranked fifth after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while Pakistan was ranked last.
Globally, Sudan was ranked last on the index of 146 countries, while Pakistan slipped three places to 145th.
India figured among the economies with the lowest levels of economic parity, alongside Bangladesh, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, and Morocco. All of them registered less than 30 per cent gender parity in estimated earned income.
However, India showed the best gender parity in terms of enrolment in secondary education, while it scored well on political empowerment of women at 65th rank globally.
With regard to parity in the number of years with female/male heads of state for the last 50 years, India was ranked 10th.
With a population of over 140 crore, India has closed 64.1 per cent of its gender gap in 2024 and the decline of two places from 127th last year, mainly happened due to small declines in 'Educational Attainment' and 'Political Empowerment,' parameters, while 'Economic Participation' and 'Opportunity' scores slightly improved.
The WEF said India's economic parity score has trended upwards for the past four years.
In the Political Empowerment subindex, India scored within the top-10 on the head-of-state indicator, but its scores for women's representation at the federal level, in ministerial positions (6.9 per cent) and in Parliament (17.2 per cent), remain relatively low, it added.
The WEF said the world has closed 68.5 per cent of the gender gap, but at the current pace it will take another 134 years -- equivalent to five generations -- to achieve full gender parity.
Since last year, the gender gap has closed by 0.1 percentage points.
"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," WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said.
"We cannot wait until 2158 for parity. The time for decisive action is now," she added.
Iceland was followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden in the top five.
The UK was ranked 14th, while the USA was at 43rd place.
The @wef's Global #GenderGap24 report is now live. It shows only a slight improvement in the global gap, with parity still five generations away at current rates of progress.
— World Economic Forum (@wef) June 11, 2024
However, in a historical election year, improving the #political participation of #women could have a… pic.twitter.com/HPLRKNVFg1
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Jaishankar meets European, UK, Egyptian counterparts at UAE summit
Dubai (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has met with his counterparts from Europe, the UK and Egypt on the sidelines of a high-level international summit in the United Arab Emirates, where leaders and policymakers gathered to discuss key geopolitical and security challenges.
In a social media post on Saturday, Jaishankar said "it was great to be" with Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, and Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braze.
The minister was in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi to attend the three-day Sir Bani Yas Forum 2025, which concluded on Sunday.
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Jaishankar also met UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy on the sidelines of the summit.
"Good to see UK DPM @DavidLammy on the sidelines of Sir Bani Yas Forum 2025," he said in another social media post.
In another meeting, the External Affairs Minister said it was “nice to catch up” with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Dr Badr Abdelatty.
Sir Bani Yas Forum is an annual platform that brings together global leaders, ministers and experts to deliberate on regional and international issues.
