Pakistan has been ranked 142nd out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023, with a 57.5 percent gender parity. This is the highest rank for Pakistan since 2006.
The report assesses gender parity in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.?
Pakistan’s ranking in the report is near the bottom globally and regionally, with only Iran, Algeria, Chad, and Afghanistan ranking lower.
However, there has been some progress in the past decade, particularly in the economic participation and opportunities dimension, where Pakistan has improved by 5.1 percentage points to reach 36.2 percent parity. Despite this improvement, the level of parity remains one of the lowest globally.
In terms of economic participation and opportunity, Pakistan ranks poorly in various indicators, including labor-force participation, wage equality, estimated earned income, and representation in leadership positions.
The country’s ranking in educational attainment is also low, with low literacy rates and enrollment rates in secondary and tertiary education.
In health and survival, Pakistan ranks 132nd, with a high sex ratio at birth but low healthy life expectancy. In political empowerment, Pakistan ranks 95th, with low representation of women in parliament and ministerial positions.
While there has been progress in some areas, such as economic participation and educational attainment, Pakistan’s widest gender gap is in political empowerment.
The report emphasizes the need for concerted action to accelerate progress towards gender parity, which would?benefit women and girls and?contribute to economic growth, innovation, and resilience.
Globally, no country has achieved full gender parity, although Iceland is the most gender-equal country, having closed more than 90 percent of its gender gap.
The report indicates progress in closing the gender gap in health and education, but political empowerment and women’s economic participation still lag behind. At the current rate of progress, it will take many years to close the gender gaps in these areas.
In Southern Asia, which includes Pakistan, gender parity is at 63.4 percent, the second-lowest score among eight regions. Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka are the best-performing countries in the region, while Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan are at the bottom.