Pakistan ranks second-last in WEF’s global gender equality index

Pakistan continues to face significant challenges in achieving gender equality, ranking 145th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2024. The only country ranked lower is Sudan. In contrast, neighboring Bangladesh ranks 99th, and India stands at 129th.

The WEF report highlights that while global gender parity in economic and political spheres has improved since the report’s inception in 2006, Pakistan still lags behind. The report notes, “Despite making up nearly half of the population, women in the South Asian country face significant economic and social disparities.”

According to the report, only 36% of women in Pakistan participate in economic activities, and just 23% are part of the workforce. More than 40 million women remain outside the labor force. This reflects Pakistan’s low level of economic parity, with women earning 18% less than men. The report further explains, “For every Rs1,000 a man earns, a woman receives only Rs818 for the same work.”

A World Bank report also highlights the significant gender gap in wages and job opportunities. It stresses that while government and business actions are crucial, the scale and stability of these interventions remain insufficient in the face of ongoing transformations.

“Economies cannot risk falling behind and throwing millions of women and girls back into times of strife and need,” the WEF study emphasizes.

The gender wage gap is particularly striking in Pakistan’s agricultural sector, where 68% of employed women work, yet 76% of them do so without pay. This contrasts with just 24% of men working without pay in the same sector.

The study also reveals the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles across corporate and industrial sectors. In managerial positions, only 0.14% are women, compared to 2.33% of men, underscoring the deep-rooted gender inequality in workplaces across Pakistan.

The WEF report further compares Pakistan to Sri Lanka, which has a highly equitable professional and technical workforce (96.8%), whereas Pakistan displays a significant gender imbalance in favor of men (35.8%).

South Asia, as a region, ranks second-lowest in educational attainment, with a score of 94.5%, 2.5 percentage points lower than its 2023 performance. This decline is largely attributed to lagging gaps in highly populated countries like Pakistan, which has a literacy rate of 67%, compared to Nepal’s 78%. There are also significant gaps in enrollment across education levels in Pakistan.

The WEF report calls for substantial improvements in economic gender parity to ensure women have unfettered access to resources, opportunities, and decision-making positions.

“The governments are called on to expand and strengthen the framework conditions needed for business and civil society to work together in making gender parity an economic imperative – one that fulfills the most basic of needs and inspires the very edges of innovation,” the report concludes.