Gender Parity in South Asia: The Gender Gap Report 2024
Written By Kusum Kali Pal, Kim Piaget, and Saadia Zahidi, Published in World Economic Forum
Analysed by Priyanka Garodia, Geopolitical Research Analyst - South Asia
The World Economic Forum released the Global Gender Gap Report (2024), a report that addresses gender equality in the global economy. The report studies 146 economies of countries and based on available data, the index aims to evaluate gender differences between men and women in terms of economic, educational, health, and political outcomes.
As of right now, the global score for attaining gender parity is 68.5%. Iceland is at the top of the index and has been for the past fifteen years. It is the only economy that has closed the gender gap to nearly 90%. Scores for economic participation and opportunity have been closed by 60.5%, educational attainment by 94.9%, health and survival closed by 96%, and political empowerment by 22%. If current trends continue, gender parity will be reached in 134 years, meaning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) target will not be met.
Overall Economic Participation and Leadership Positions by Women
Gender disparity in the economic domain has been characteristic of the capitalist world order and its present neoliberal manifestation. Women have never been equal participants in the work force and have often been tapped into as a working group for lower pay and lesser benefits and protections than their male counterparts. The contributions made on the household front are not even counted in economic calculations made globally. In the formal economic sector, opportunities for women and girls are threatened due to the ongoing economic crisis and conflicts taking place globally.
Regional differences in achieving gender parity are staggering, with seven out of ten of the top ten economies in Europe. While some regions have successfully implemented gender parity policies for the economic inclusion of women, others remain behind. Women's participation in the labour force has increased since 2018 but suffers from the same regional imbalances. Global unemployment is expected to rise, leading to significant problems for women. The year of elections will bring significant implications for women in positions of power and leadership. Figures indicate that in the past 50 years, 47.2% of the 145 economies tracked have had one woman in a position of power; however, the low score on political empowerment is troubling. Women’s participation in STEM has increased, but they occupy mostly lower-growth, lower-paying jobs. Women’s presence in the technology required in AI engineering has more than doubled since 2016, with technology information, media seeing most of their presence. The regional differences, the low presence in decision-making and leadership positions indicate that while policies for inclusion are necessary, a shift in mindset must accompany these policies.
The South Asian Problem
Out of the 8 regions studied in the report, including Europe, Northern America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and the Middle East and Nothern Africa, Southern Asia ranks 7th out of the eight regions with a gender parity score of 63.7%. While improving its score by +3.9% since 2006, it ranks last in the economic participation and opportunity score. It has low labour-force participation for women and significant discrepancies in leadership roles. Pakistan and Nepal, notably, suffer from disparities in education. Political participation has declined by 0.7% from 2023 to 26%, indicating a huge gap in the access that women have to ministerial and parliamentary positions.
6 out of the 7 South Asian economies rank below the top 100. Bangladesh is ranked 99th, and Pakistan is 146th. Women are disproportionately represented in legislative, senior officer and managerial roles, accounting for less than one-third of workers in the category. The proportions of men and women in professional and technical roles are more evenly distributed, although there is a significant economic disparity in these roles. Sri Lanka is more equitable in professional and technical roles for women at 96.8%, whereas Pakistan has an abysmal score of 35.8% parity.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh has seen a sharp decline, falling 40 ranks - the drop occurs due to a revision in the economic indicators. In the past five years, economic gender parity has deteriorated significantly, leaving Bangladesh with a wider gender gap to close. Some observations:
Labor force participation has seen a reduction in the gender gap from 42.5% in 2018 to 30.7%.
The difference in income between men and women in 2024 (10.2%) is almost five times higher than it was in 2018 (48.9%).
Women’s representation in senior leadership roles has also decreased. While women also encompass only 1/5th of professional and technical working positions, amassing a parity score of 25.4% parity score.
In terms of educational attainment, Bangladesh excels, with a 94% attainment rate that reflects full parity in secondary enrollment, 93% gender parity in literacy, and 84.1% gender parity in tertiary enrollment.
Bangladesh has had women serving as heads of state for 30.3 of the last 50 years, giving it the highest gender parity score in the region (54.3%) and seventh place overall in terms of political empowerment. Nonetheless, women hold only 25% of parliamentary seats, and there is only one woman minister for every nine men (a score of 9%). The gender parity score is 25%.
Pakistan
Pakistan has performed weakly on the report, coming in second to last with a parity score of 57%. This is reflective of the conditions in which its 119 million female population lives. It has fallen three ranks since 2023, mainly due to its regression in political empowerment for women. It lags behind in almost all four areas, including significantly poor performances in educational attainment, health and survival domains. Some observations:
Pakistan has closed its gender gap to only 36%.
The largest disparity is found in senior leadership (6.1% score), where less than 6% of the total is made up of female legislators, senior officials, and managers.
Pakistan has one of the highest income disparity gaps in the world, it comes in 136th, with the gender gap closing at 75.1% Pakistan's labor force participation rate (30.4%, 140th) is among the lowest globally, despite being relatively higher.
Pakistan's educational attainment has been on a positive trajectory since 2006, but it is still 139th in the subindex, behind most economies. Its biggest challenge is to close its literacy gap, which stands at 67.1%.
The biggest challenge lies in closing its literacy rate gap, which is 67.1%. Though at a slower rate than in other economies, efforts appear to be having an impact, as evidenced by rising percentages of female enrolment across indicators and parity scores in primary (87.6%), secondary (84.3%), and tertiary education enrolment (92.6%).
Pakistan ranks 112th overall in the Political Empowerment subindex, with 6.3% parity at the ministerial level and 19.3% in parliamentary seats.
Afghanistan finds no mention in the report.