In India, women empowerment, gender parity were found to be ‘low’ despite ‘medium’ human development
Women only realise 60% of their potential, achieve 28% less human development than men. Photo: iStock
_ Only an abysmal 1 per cent of women across the world live in countries that have managed to achieve both high women empowerment and gender parity, according to a new report by the United Nations.
Leadership roles and decision-making still mostly lie with men and are unavailable to women, the report released July 18, 2023 at the Women Deliver Conference being held in Kigali, Rwanda noted.
The first-of-its-kind report that presents a comprehensive analysis of the progress made in human development of women and girls was jointly created by two UN agencies – UN Women and UN Development Programme.
The bodies collated data from 114 countries and analysed them based on the twin indices of Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI). These complementary indices together, the authors proposed, are the best tool to develop the most accurate understanding of the progress made towards women’s empowerment and gender parity in a country.
“The WEI focuses solely on women, measuring their power and freedoms to make choices and seize opportunities in life. The GGPI evaluates the status of women relative to men in core dimensions of human development and exposes gaps in parity between women and men,” UN noted in the report.
They also factored in new data on the progress made by these countries towards achieving UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals that deal with closing gender gaps.
The findings were disappointing. WEI showed that, on an average, women are empowered to achieve only 60 per cent of their full potential. They also were found to achieve 28 per cent less than men across key human development dimensions, as measured by the GGPI, the report noted.
None of the 114 countries analysed achieved full women’s empowerment or complete gender parity, they found.
More than 90 per cent of the global population of women live in countries with low or middle women’s empowerment and low or middle performance in achieving gender parity, the authors wrote in the report.
Equality of women is of utmost importance and without it, empowerment of women will remain elusive, even in places with high human development, the study showed. “Of the 114 countries analysed, 85 have low or middle women’s empowerment and low or middle performance in achieving gender parity. More than half the countries in this group are in the high (21 countries) or very high human development group (26 countries).”
India can be cited as an example, based on the findings. In the country, women’s empowerment and gender parity were both found to be ‘low’, although it was assessed to be in the ‘medium’ catergory in terms of human development.
No country with a large gender gap has achieved high women’s empowerment, report added.
But equality alone was also not sufficient to empower women, the authors wrote, as they found that about 8 per cent of women and girls live in countries with low or middle women’s empowerment but high performance in achieving gender parity.
The report identified areas where comprehensive policy action is needed:
1. Health policies: Support and promote long and healthy lives for all, with a focus on universal access to sexual and reproductive health
2. Equality in education: Address gaps in skills and quality of education, especially in fields such as STEM, to empower women and girls in the digital age
3. Work-life balance and support for families: Invest in policies and services that address work-life balance, including affordable quality childcare services, parental leave schemes, and flexible working arrangements
4. Women’s equal participation: Set targets and action plans for achieving gender parity in all spheres of public life and eliminate discriminatory laws and regulations that hold women back
5. Violence against women: Implement comprehensive measures focused on prevention, changing social norms, and eliminating discriminatory laws and policies
The authors stressed that the twin indices should be used for tracking and assessment of progress and gaps across countries. They called for policymakers, stakeholders and communities to harness theses tools “to take informed action and accelerate the journey towards a more equitable and inclusive world”.
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