Tracking the Gender Gap

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India's ranking in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index has slipped from 101st in 2013 to 114th this year. Not only does it rank lowest among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations, it also ranks behind countries such as Cuba, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The report says India is one of the few countries where participation of the women labour force is shrinking. While this lowers the country's score on the index, the fall could be due to greater enrolment of girls in educational institutions.

In terms of economic participation, India lags countries such as Kenya and Mongolia. In absolute terms, countries that saw the least improvement compared to 2013 were Mali (economic participation); Angola (educational attainment); India (health and survival); and Sri Lanka (political empowerment).

Though India ranks high on the Index of Political Empowerment (15th globally), a detailed break-up doesn't show the country in flattering light. It ranks 111th in terms of women in Parliament and 107th in terms of women in ministerial positions. The higher overall score on the index of political empowerment seems to result from its rank (first globally) on the number of years under a woman head of state.