WEF gender gap report now more inclusive

India has succeeded in getting a metric, measuring percentage of women political participation, included WEF's Global Gender Gap report.

New Delhi, Jan 25: India has succeeded in getting a metric measuring the percentage of women who hold elected positions in local government bodies, an area in which it has historically performed poorly, included in the Global Gender Gap (GGG) report of World Economic Forum (WEF).

In its GGG Index for 2022, WEF placed India at position 135, out of a total of 146 countries analysed. The year 2021 placed India at position number 140 out of 156 countries. The gender gap refers to the differences that exist between women and men in terms of their social, political, intellectual, cultural, economic attainments or attitudes. Specifically, the gender gap is reflected in the gender pay gap.

"We are happy to share that the World Economic Forum has recognised the need to enumerate women's participation in local government bodies in the Gender Gap Report. This makes us very happy at the Ministry for the Development of Women and Children," said an official statement. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani too tweeted that "this is a significant win for the 1.4 million grassroots women who were locally elected at the panchayat level in the country."

According to officials working in the Women and Child Development Ministry, India has historically not done well in the Gender Gap Reports because parameters such as the participation of women in grassroots democratic institutions like Panchayats have never been counted. This is one of the reasons why India has a poor reputation in the international community.

In a letter addressed to the Minister, WEF's Centre for New Economy and Society (CNES) stated that it will work on improving data collection and cross-country benchmarking efforts in order to evaluate the participation of women in local political decision-making in a manner that is globally comparable.

The WEF also stated in the letter that it would highlight on the digital platform of the Forum the impact that the Indian government had achieved through its Gender Budgeting System, which promoted gender equality across all industries and at all levels of governance. "We look forward to learning more about this work from the Finance Commission of India," read the letter.

According to the statement, the WEF will also assist in the establishment of a Skills and Gender Parity accelerator in India. The purpose of this accelerator will be to identify and scale up targeted public-private initiatives that will prepare the Indian workforce for the future of work, support the development of the digital, care, and green economy in India, and expand the skill set of women for the new economy.