Paper: GS – II, Subject: Society and Social Justice, Topic: Welfare Schemes, laws, mechanisms, institutions related to women, Issue: Lessons from the WEF’s Global Gender Gap report.
Context:
India ranks 131 out of 148 countries in the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2025. Despite economic and technological progress, India continues to lag significantly in gender equality.
Key Highlights:
Structural Issues:
- Poor scores: India secures poor scores in economic participation, Health and survival.
- Skewed ratio: India’s sex ratio at birth remains highly skewed due to son preference.
- Low life expectancy: Life expectancy for women is lower than men’s, indicating health neglect.
- Low workforce participation: Progress in education has not translated to health or workforce participation.
- Health concerns: NFHS-5 data shows 57% of women (15–49 years) are anaemic. Poor health limits learning, earning potential and economic inclusion.
- Unequal earnings: Women earn less than a third of what men earn while Female labour force participation remains low.
- Unpaid and Informal Work: Women dominate Informal and subsistence work. While unpaid domestic care and underrepresentation in decision-making bodies (e.g., boardrooms, budget panels) are key hurdles.
Demographic Warning:
- Ageing Population:
- By 2050, 20% of India’s population will be senior citizens. This group will mainly comprise elderly women, especially widows.
- Simultaneously, fertility rates are falling, shrinking the working-age population.
- Ignoring gender equality may worsen dependency ratios and strain public finances.
Need for Gender-Responsive Infrastructure:
- Investments: Need for investments in Childcare centres, elder care services and Maternity support. It enables women to enter or re-enter workforce.
- Gender-sensitive budgeting: Need for Gender-sensitive budgeting, Data collection on unpaid work and Direct investment in gendered care infrastructure.
- Adapting global practices: India should take cues from countries like Uruguay and South Korea, which have integrated care economies.
- McKinsey projection (2015): Closing gender gap could add $770 billion to India’s GDP by 2025
Conclusion:
India has ambition but lacks gender-sensitive implementation. True economic growth requires treating women not just as beneficiaries but as builders of the economy. Gender equality is both a rights issue and an economic imperative.
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