"India Holds 131st Rank on WEF Global Gender Gap Index 2026"
Global Gender Gap Index
WEF's annual index measuring gender parity across 145 economies on four subindices.
Gender parity score
ratio of female to male outcomes on a given indicator, expressed as a percentage up to 100%.
The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) is published annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF), a Geneva-based international non-governmental organisation. The index was first released in 2006 and now benchmarks 145 economies across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. A score of 100% represents full parity between men and women. The index does not measure absolute levels of well-being; it measures the size of the gap between men and women on each dimension, regardless of which country is wealthier.
India's constitutional framework mandates gender equality under Articles 14, 15, and 16, and Article 39(d) directs the state to ensure equal pay for equal work. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (1992) mandated one-third reservation for women in local self-government bodies. Despite this, research and successive editions of the GGGI have consistently shown that formal legal guarantees do not automatically translate into substantive equality in economic participation or political representation. The 2019 GS2 Mains question on women's reservation in local self-government captured this tension precisely: reservation creates access, but patriarchal social structures often limit the real exercise of power. The GGGI data on India's political empowerment subindex illustrates the same gap at the national level, India ranks 67th globally on political empowerment, yet parliamentary gender parity stands at only 16.1% and ministerial parity at a mere 5.9%.
The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, granted daughters equal coparcenary rights in ancestral property, representing the most significant statutory reform on women's property rights in India. Yet the distance between legal entitlement and actual asset ownership remains large, and the GGGI's economic participation subindex continues to reflect this structural gap.
The GGGI measures four subindices. Economic Participation and Opportunity covers labour-force participation, wage equality, earned income, legislators/senior officials/managers, and professional and technical workers. Educational Attainment covers literacy and enrolment ratios at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Health and Survival covers sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy. Political Empowerment covers women in parliament, women in ministerial positions, and years with a female head of state over the past 50 years.
Each subindex is scored as a ratio of female to male outcomes, capped at 1 (full parity). The overall index score is a weighted average of the four subindices. This design means a country can score very high on educational attainment (as India does, at 96.6%) while still ranking poorly overall because of low economic participation or political representation. …
Which of the following gives 'Global Gender Gap Index' ranking to the countries of the world?
'The reservation of seats for women in the institutions of local self-government has had a limited impact on the patriarchal character of the Indian Political Process.' Comment.
Which of the following gives the 'Global Gender Gap Index' ranking to the countries of the world?
Consider the following statements regarding the Global Gender Gap Index 2026:
1.It is published by the World Economic Forum and benchmarks 145 economies.
2.India's highest parity score among its four subindices is in Political Empowerment.
3.Iceland is the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.
4.Globally, full gender parity has been achieved in the Educational Attainment subindex.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Consider the following pairs relating to India's performance on the Global Gender Gap Index 2026:
Subindex — Approximate Parity Score
1.Economic Participation and Opportunity — 41%
2.Educational Attainment — 97%
3.Health and Survival — 80%
4.Political Empowerment — 25%
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Consider the following statements regarding India's Political Empowerment subindex in the Global Gender Gap Index 2026:
1.Political Empowerment is India's highest-ranked subindex globally.
2.India's parliamentary gender parity stands above 25%.
3.India's ministerial gender parity in 2026 is lower than its peak score recorded in 2019.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
With reference to the Global Gender Gap Index, consider the following statements:
1.The index measures absolute levels of women's well-being, not the gap between men and women.
2.Southern Asia is the lowest-scoring region on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex.
3.The share of economies led by a woman peaked globally in 2022 but has since declined.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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