GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT 2023

Why in News?:

Recently, 17^th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 has been released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), evaluating Gender Parity across 146 countries.

What is the Global Gender Gap Index?:It benchmarks countries on their progress towards gender parity in four Key dimensions with Submatrices:

Economic Participation and Opportunity

Educational Attainment

Health and Survival

Political Empowerment

It is the longest-standing index, which tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006.

Objectives:To serve as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics.

Global Gender Gap Score:

In 2023 stands at 68.4%, indicating a modest improvement of 0.3% points compared to the previous year.

It would take 131 years to achieve full gender parity, showing a significant slowdown in the overall rate of change.

Top-Rankers:

Iceland has maintained its position as the most gender-equal country for the 14^th consecutive year, with a gender gap score of 91.2%.It is the only country to have closed over 90% of its gender gap..

India’s Status:India has made significant progress, rising from 135^th (in 2022) to 127^th out of 146 countries in the report's 2023 edition, indicating an improvement in its ranking.

Indiahas improved by 1.4 percentage points and eight positions since the last edition, marking a partial recovery towards its 2020 parity level.India had closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap.