Global Gender Gap Report 2022

The report ranks countries on a scale of 0 to 1 with one being the highest score. Of the 146 countries covered in this report, the ones with the highest rates of gender parity are Iceland (0.908), Finland (0.860), Norway (0.845), New Zealand (0.841) and Sweden (0.822). Conversely, the countries lowest on the index are Afghanistan (0.435), Pakistan (0.564), the Democratic Republic of Congo (0.575), Iran (0.576) and Chad (0.579).

At the present global rate of change, it will take another 155 years to close the gender gap in political empowerment, 151 years to close the gender gap in economic opportunities and 22 years for complete gender parity in education.

India is ranked 135 out of the 146 countries in the Index with a score of 0.629. In the 2021 report, India was ranked 140 of 156 countries with a score of 0.625. 

India ranked low on the subindex of ‘economic participation and opportunity’ – 143 among 146 countries – and was ranked lowest for gender parity in the ‘health and survival’ subindex. The country scored better (0.961) on the ‘educational attainment’ subindex and stood at rank 107. Within the subindex of ‘political empowerment,’ India held the 48th rank but with a low score of 0.267.

Gender parity in the dimension of economic participation rose to 60.3 per cent globally. Lao People’s Democratic Republic (0.883), Burundi (0.855) and Barbados (0.832) were the highest scoring countries in this subindex. The countries which scored the lowest were Afghanistan (0.176), Pakistan (0.331) and Iran (0.343).

The worldwide gender gap in educational attainment fell from 95.2 per cent in 2021 to 94.4 per cent in 2022. As per the report, 29 countries (including Argentina and Brazil) achieved full gender parity in this subindex. Afghanistan (0.482) scored lowest in this dimension, followed by Chad (0.603) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (0.661).

The health and survival subindex showed only slight progress (95.7 per cent to 95.8 per cent) towards achieving gender parity between 2021 and 2022. In the present report, 28 countries (including Sri Lanka and Myanmar) occupy the first rank with an equal score of 0.980. On the other hand, India (0.937), China (0.940) and Azerbaijan (0.941) were ranked lowest among the 146 countries considered.

The report notes that gender parity in the political empowerment subindex stood at 22 per cent globally. Countries that scored highest in this dimension were Iceland (0.874), Finland (0.682) and Norway (0.662). Conversely, Vanuatu ranked the lowest with a score of zero, followed by Kuwait (0.023) and Brunei (0.031).

At the current pace, overall gender gaps are estimated to close in roughly 59 to 62 years in North America, 60 years in Europe, 67 years in Latin America and the Caribbean, 98 years in Sub-Saharan Africa, 115 years in Middle East and North Africa, 151 years in Central Asia, 168 years in East Asia and the Pacific, and 197 years in South Asia.

The report notes a stagnation in progress towards achieving gender parity caused by the rising cost of living, the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and various other conflicts. It states that since women have continued to earn and accumulate wealth at levels lower than men, they are expected to be more severely affected by future crises than men.

Gender parity in the participation of men and women in the labour-force has been declining in South Asia, and Middle East and North Africa since 2013. Sub-Saharan Africa, North America and Europe, on the other hand, have either held stable or seen an improvement.

Based on data from 2019 representing 33 countries and 54 per cent of the world’s working-age population, the report measures the share of time men and women spent doing unpaid work. Only 19 per cent of the total time spent working by men was devoted to unpaid work. Women, on the other hand, were engaged in unpaid work for around 55 per cent of their total time spent working.

Focus and Factoids by T. Rajapandian.

PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.