Gender Gap Index 2022: India slips on income measures, shows data

The country performed better on education and health parameters. Political representation has been a mixed bag

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022, released on Monday, ranks India 135 out of 146 countries. Although an improvement over its 140th position out of 156 in 2021, it is a sharp deterioration from the 105th rank out of 135 countries in 2012. In 2006, when the gender gap report was first released, India ranked 98th among 115 countries.

Despite the slide on the ranking ladder over the years, an analysis of the WEF data shows the country has performed well on certain parameters, especially education and health, but the income levels have pegged its rank back.

“The overall score for India has improved slightly over 2021: 0.629. The ranking has worsened: India stands at 135 out of 146 countries in 2022, i.e. 10th from the bottom. The main reason is the continued poor showing on ‘economic participation and opportunity’ (India is fourth from the bottom at 143). On ‘political empowerment’, while India’s record in itself needs improvement, its global ranking is at 48,” said Ashwini Deshpande, professor of economics, Ashoka University, and director, Centre for Economic Data and Analysis.

A Business Standard analysis found that though the proportion of women as professionals, technical workers, senior officials and managers increased during this period, the estimated income did not increase commensurately. The estimated earned income for women in 2012 was a sixth of men’s estimated earned income at $1,530. Despite the lower base, estimated earned income of women increased only 40 per cent between 2012 and 2022, whereas male income jumped 75.7 per cent during this period.

“The fact that the proportion of women in professional, technical and managerial work is rising and incomes have declined implies that income inequality has increased,” an official from a government institution told Business Standard.

India has improved its performance in all the five sub-indices of education and health for which data is available. The female enrolment in primary education increased from 92 per cent in 2012 to 93.57 per cent in 2022, according to WEF data. Their participation in tertiary education, although lower than male participation, went up from 15 per cent in 2012 to 27.8 per cent in 2022. Half of the women were literate in 2012; now, that ratio is inching towards two-thirds.

Political representation has also improved, but biases still exist. There were 11 per cent women in Parliament in 2012, and in 2022, women filled 14.9 per cent of the positions. However, the proportion of women in ministerial positions declined from 10 per cent in 2012 to 9 per cent in 2022. In 2017, nearly a fifth of women were in ministerial positions.

The performance has been worse when it comes to employment status. Female labour force participation declined 45 per cent between 2012 and 2022, whereas male participation decreased 17.5 per cent during this period.