Context -

• India was ranked 127 out of 146 countries in the annual Gender Gap Report, 2023.

About-

• The index is designed to measure gender equality.

Publishing Body -

• It was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum.

Mandate -

• It assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities.

Top Performer -

• Iceland

Worst Performer –

• Afghanistan

Major Findings of the Report

• India has improved by 1.4 percentage points and eight positions since the last edition.
• India has attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education.
• India has closed 64.3 percent of the overall gender gap.
• India has reached only 36.7 percent parity in economic participation and opportunity.
• In India, there has been an uptick in parity in wages and income, the share of women in senior positions and technical roles has dropped slightly since the last edition.
• India has registered 25.3 percent parity on political empowerment, with women representing 15.1 percent of parliamentarians -- the highest for the country since the inaugural report in 2006.
• For India, the 1.9 percentage point improvement in the sex ratio at birth has driven up parity after more than a decade of slow progress.