The Global Gender Gap Report says that Pakistan has shown dismal performance in gender equality, slipping two spots since last year.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, published on Wednesday by the World Economic Forum: Pakistan’s gender gap had widened by 0.7 percentage points, to 55.6 percent, making it one of the worst countries for gender parity. The country lost two spots since last year to rank 153rd out of 156 countries.
The scorecard for the country places Pakistan at 152 in economic participation and opportunity, 144 in educational attainment, 153 in health and survival, and 98 in political empowerment.
Pakistan’s rankings have worsened over time, with data collected showing that in 2006, the country ranked 112 in economic participation and opportunity, 110 in education attainment, 112 in health and survival, and 37 in political empowerment.
“Few women participate in the labour force (22.6pc) and even fewer are in managerial positions (4.9pc). This means that only 26.7pc and 5.2pc, respectively, of these gaps have been closed so far, translating into very large income disparities between women and men: on average, a Pakistani woman’s income is 16.3pc of a man’s,” the report stated.
The report pointed out that women do not have equal access to justice, ownership of land, and non-financial assets or inheritance rights in Pakistan.
When it comes to education, gender gaps as large as 13 percent or more exist across all levels. According to the report, “these gaps are the widest at lower education levels (84.1pc primary enrolment gap closed) and are somewhat narrower for higher education levels (84.7pc gap closed in secondary enrolment and 87.1pc closed in tertiary enrolment).
The South Asian region is the second-lowest performer on the index, after Middle East and North Africa, with 62.3pc of its overall gender gap closed. Progress has been too slow in the recent past, and this year has actually reversed, the report said.
“Within the region, a wide gulf separates the best-performing country, Bangladesh, which has closed 71.9pc of its gender gap so far, from Afghanistan, which has only closed 44.4pc of its gap. While, Pakistan has closed just 31.6pc of its gender gap in economic participation and opportunity.