View India’s Gender Gap Report ranking as a warning, Pg6

Key Highlights:

• India ranks 131 out of 148 in the Global Gender Gap Report 2025.
• Critical gaps exist in economic participation and health & survival indicators.
• India ranks 143rd in Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex.
• 57% of women aged 15–49 are anaemic as per NFHS-5.
• Indian women perform 7 times more unpaid domestic work than men.
• Fertility rates have dropped below replacement level, and elderly population is rising.
• Lack of investment in care infrastructure and gender-sensitive policies perpetuates inequality.

Detailed Insights:

• Skewed sex ratio at birth reflects continued son preference and gender bias.
• Women have lower healthy life expectancy than men, indicating systemic neglect in reproductive health, nutrition, and preventive care.
• Economic exclusion of women leads to lost GDP potential; McKinsey estimated $770 billion loss by 2025 due to gender gaps.
• Majority of women engaged in informal, subsistence work with low or no wages, and are under-represented in decision-making roles.
• Unpaid care work remains invisible in GDP calculations, skewing public policy priorities.
• Countries like Uruguay and South Korea have integrated care economy into development strategies with positive impact.
• With the elderly population projected to reach 20% by 2050, and most being widowed women, care needs will increase while working population shrinks.
• Ensuring women’s economic inclusion is vital for maintaining a stable dependency ratio and fiscal sustainability.
• Real progress requires time-use surveys, gender budgeting, and direct investment in care and health infrastructure.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Global Gender Gap Index: An index by the World Economic Forum that benchmarks gender gaps across Economic Participation, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
• Dependency Ratio: Ratio of dependents (young and elderly) to the working-age population, impacting economic productivity.
• Time Use Survey: A statistical tool to measure how people allocate their time across activities, critical for valuing unpaid work.
• Replacement-level fertility: The level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself, usually 2.1 children per woman.