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Global Gender Gap Report 2023

  • 22 Jun 2023

On 20th June 2023, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published the 17th edition of the Global Gender Gap Index, which serves as a benchmark for measuring gender parity across 146 countries.

Key Findings of the report.

  • Health and Survival: India has a significant gender gap in health and survival, with a sex ratio at birth of 92.7% compared to the top-scoring countries at 94.4%.This indicates the need for ongoing efforts to ensure equal health outcomes for girls and boys in India.
  • Overall Gender Parity: The overall gender parity in India stands at 64.3%.
  • Education: India has achieved parity in enrolment across all levels of education.
  • Economic Participation and Opportunity: India falls short in achieving gender parity in economic participation and opportunity, with only 36.7% parity in this area.
  • Political Empowerment: In terms of political empowerment, India has made some progress with 25.3% gender parity.
  • However, women still make up only 15.1% of Members of Parliament (MPs).
  • Representation in Local Governance: The report mentions that out of 117 countries with available data since 2017, India is one of 18 countries that have achieved women's representation of over 40% in local governance.
  • Overall Global Gender Gap: The global gender gap score for all 146 countries in the index is 68.4% closed, indicating that there is still a significant gender gap worldwide. The score improved by 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.
  • Countries with Highest Gender Parity: No country has achieved full gender parity yet. The top nine countries with the highest gender parity are Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia, and Lithuania. Iceland continues to be the top-ranking country, with a gender gap score of 91.2%.
  • Regional Gender Parity: Europe surpasses North America to rank first among the eight geographic regions in terms of gender parity, with a score of 76.3%. The Middle East and North Africa region remains the furthest away from parity, with a score of 62.6%.
  • Gender Gaps in the Labor Market: Women's participation in the global labor market has slightly improved, but significant disparities still exist. The labor-force participation rate parity increased from 63% to 64% between 2022 and 2023.
  • However, women continue to face higher unemployment rates than men, and a significant portion of the employment recovery since 2020 is attributed to informal employment.
  • Workforce Representation: Women's representation in senior leadership positions remains lower than in the overall workforce. Globally, women account for 41.9% of the workforce but only 32.2% of senior leadership positions.
  • The representation of women in C-suite positions is even lower at 25%. (Note:C-suite typically include titles such as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), among others)
  • Gender Gaps in STEM: Women are significantly underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) occupations.
  • While they make up nearly half of total employment across non-STEM occupations, they account for only 29.2% of all STEM workers. The retention of women in STEM fields after graduation is also a challenge, with lower representation in high-level leadership roles.
  • Gender Gaps in Future Skills: Online learning platforms offer opportunities for acquiring future skills, but there are gender gaps in access and enrollment. Disparities exist in enrollment across various skill categories, with technology skills showing significant gender gaps.