Pakistan at 141 Among 142 Countries on the Global Gender Gap Report 2014 of the World Economic Forum.
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| The Global Gender Gap Report 2014 click to download the Report. |
In nine years of measuring the global gender gap, the
The ninth edition of the report finds that, among the 142
countries measured, Pakistan has been ranked at 141 and occupies the last place
in the regional ranking. The country score has been fluctuated over the past
nine years, ending with a slight improvement compared to 2006.
On the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex Pakistan
has experienced one of the highest negative percentage change relative to its
2006 score. Yet it has achieved one of the highest percentage change relative
to its own 2006 score on the Educational Attainment subindex – even the score
still falls below 2014 world average on that subindex. Pakistan ranks 141st on
the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex this year. It is one of the
ten lowest-performing countries on all indicators of this subindex with the
exception of Wage equality for similar work. Pakistan is one of the three
countries with the lowest percentage of firms with female participation in
ownership. Finally, the country ranks 119th on the Health and Survival subindex
and 85th on the Political Empowerment subindex.
Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, a
partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks,
World Economic Forum, said, “as compared to 2013, Pakistan’s indicators have
not changed much, instead other countries have shown improvements. Gender
parity and socio-economic empowerment has not been a priority for governments
in Pakistan.” “The fact that, there is not a single female full minister either
in federal or any of the provincial governments, is an alarming situation”, he
further added.
On the global front, the gender gap is narrowest in terms of
health and survival. This gap stands at 96% globally, with 35 countries having
closed the gap entirely. This includes three countries that have closed the gap
in the past 12 months. The educational attainment gap is the next narrowest,
standing at 94% globally. Here, 25 countries have closed the gap entirely.
While the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity lags stubbornly
behind, the gap for political empowerment, the fourth pillar measured, remains
wider still, standing at just 21%, although this area has seen the most
improvement since 2006.
With no one country having closed its overall gender gap, Nordic
nations remain the most gender-equal societies in the world. Last year’s
leading four nations – Iceland (1), Finland (2), Norway (3) and Sweden (4) –
are joined by Denmark, which climbs from eighth place to fifth. Elsewhere in
the top 10 there is considerable movement, with Nicaragua climbing four places
to sixth, Rwanda entering the index for the first time at seventh, Ireland
falling to eighth, the Philippines declining four places to ninth and Belgium
climbing one place to tenth.
Further up the index, the United States climbs three places to
20 in 2014, after narrowing its wage gap and improving the number of women in
parliamentary and ministerial level positions. Among the BRICS grouping, the
highest-placed nation is South Africa (18), supported by strong scores on
political participation. Brazil is next at 71, followed by Russia (75), China
(87) and India (114).
Nine years of data from the Global Gender Gap Report –
first published in 2006 – reveal the pattern of change around the world
relative to countries’ own past performance and in relation to each other.
“Much of the progress on gender equality over the last 10 years
has come from more women entering politics and the workforce. While more women
and more men have joined the workforce over the last decade, more women than
men entered the labour force in 49 countries. These are far-reaching changes –
for economies and national cultures, however it is clear that much work still
remains to be done, and that the pace of change must in some areas be
accelerated, ” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of the Gender Parity Programme at the
World Economic Forum and lead author of the report.
Progress has not been even across the four pillars of economy,
politics, health and education. On educational attainment and health and
survival, although many countries have already reached parity, the trend is
actually reversing in some parts of the world. In fact, nearly 30% of the
countries covered have wider education gaps than they did nine years ago, and
over 40% of countries have wider health and survival gaps than they did nine
years ago.
“Achieving gender equality is obviously necessary for economic
reasons. Only those economies who have full access to all their talent will
remain competitive and will prosper. But even more important, gender equality
is a matter of justice. As a humanity, we also have the obligation to ensure a balanced
set of values,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World
Economic Forum.
The Global Gender Gap Index ranks 142 countries on the gap
between women and men on health, education, economic and political indicators.
It aims to understand whether countries are distributing their resources and
opportunities equitably between women and men, irrespective of their overall
income levels. The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in
four areas:
•
Economic participation and
opportunity – salaries, participation and leadership
•
Education – access to
basic and higher levels of education
•
Political empowerment –
representation in decision-making structures
•
Health and survival – life
expectancy and sex ratio
Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap
that has been closed between women and men, and allow countries to compare
their current performance relative to their past performance. In addition, the
rankings allow for comparisons between countries. Thirteen out of the 14
variables used to create the index are from publicly available hard data
indicators from international organizations such as the International Labour
Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health
Organization.
The World Economic Forum is an international institution
committed to improving the state of the world through public-private
cooperation in the spirit of global citizenship. It engages with business,
political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and
industry agendas.
Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971 and
headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is independent, impartial and
not tied to any interests. It cooperates closely with all leading international
organizations.
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