Women in economy: India among lowest in world
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COMMENTS 
India continues to falter in its initiatives to bring gender-based parity in the areas of health, education and economic participation while Europe’s Nordic countries remain global leaders in the campaign to close the gender equality gap, says a global report
The Switzerland-based World Economic Forum (WEF) has placed India in 112th position, in a list of 134 countries, in its latest report ‘Global Gender Gap Index 2010’. The report measures equity in four fundamental areas -- economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
The report, which was introduced in 2006 by WEF, examines the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and calculates how equitably income, resources and opportunities are distributed between the two sexes. Nepal (115), and Pakistan (132) accompany India at the bottom of the list.
China dropped a place to 61st because of the prevalence of female foeticide -- aborting baby girls because of a cultural preference for boys. This is exacerbated by the country’s one-child policy; the report notes that China’s sex ratio at birth fell this year from 0.91 to 0.88 girls for every boy.
“India and Pakistan perform above average on the political empowerment of women, particularly India, but lag behind in the other three categories. In particular, the persistent health, education and economic participation gaps will be detrimental to India’s growth; India is the lowest ranked of the BRIC economies featured in the index,” the report says.
Citing research on the growing “power of the purse,” the report warns India that “persistent health, education and economic participation gaps will be detrimental to (the country’s) growth”.
Nordic nations, long-time champions of an equal society, topped the list with Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden demonstrating “great equality between men and women” in the forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. Women there live longer, have high employment rates and often enjoy generous maternity and paternity benefits. There are more than 1.5 women for every man enrolled in tertiary education.
Although Iceland, rated the best nation for gender equality in the world, has seen its economic wealth shattered by recession, the government is committed to levelling society further and introduced laws this year to force companies with more than 50 people on their staff to ensure their management is made up of at least 40% women by September 2013.
The US rose to 19th, jumping 12 positions, in part because women now occupy a third of the top jobs in President Barack Obama’s administration, compared to a quarter in the last government. There was also a rise in income for American women to almost $35,000 (£22,000) from more than $25,000. While the UK performs well in education and health, its male-to-female ratios in politics and the workforce are low. In terms of wages, the UK ranks 78th out of the 134 countries.
The developing world had some notable success stories. Lesotho, the Philippines and South Africa were more equal than the UK, which was 15th in the global list. Lesotho, which rose two places to 8th, is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have no gender gap in either education or health.
The poorest performer in the richer democracies appears to be France. It ranks 46th, trailing much poorer nations like Kazakhstan and Jamaica, and has fallen 28 places since last year due largely to a fall in the number of women in politics despite legislation that requires equal numbers of both sexes on political parties’ lists of candidates.
Gender equality, claim the report’s authors, boosts growth in both rich and poor countries. The report warns that while gaps were narrowing between men’s and women’s health and education, women were still left out of the labour market -- including salaried and skilled jobs.
Klaus Schwab, chairman of the WEF, said: “Low gender gaps are directly correlated with high economic competitiveness. Women and girls must be treated equally if a country is to grow and prosper. We still need a true gender equality revolution, not only to mobilise a major pool of talent both in terms of volume and quality but also to create a more compassionate value system within all our institutions.”
Source: The Hindustan Times, October 13, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk, October 13, 2010