India keeps 131st place in WEF Global Gender Gap Index; Iceland remains top

India retained its 131st position on the Global Gender Gap Index 2026 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday, while Iceland, Finland and Norway continued to occupy the top three spots, respectively.India ranked 131st among 145 countries, with only 14 countries placed below it. These included Papua New Guinea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Algeria and Congo.Chad was at the bottom of the index, with Iran and Pakistan joining it among the three lowest-ranked countries.The Geneva-based WEF said nearly every economy tracked by the index since 2006 had made progress towards gender parity. However, it estimated that full parity remained 120 years away.Globally, 69.2% of the gender gap has been closed, an improvement of 0.4 percentage points over the previous year, with 100% representing full parity.India’s Gender Parity Improves, Ranking Stays UnchangedIndia, the world’s most populous country with approximately 1.5 billion people, recorded a gender parity score of 64.5%, below the global average.Although the country’s score improved marginally from the previous year, its ranking remained unchanged at 131st. India’s overall gender parity has increased by 4.3 percentage points since 2006, driven primarily by improvements in educational attainment.In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, India recorded a parity score of 41.2%, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous edition but 3.5 percentage points below its best performance in 2013.Parity among professional and technical workers rose sharply from 26.6% in 2006 to 49.9% in 2026. Representation among legislators, senior officials and managers improved by 10 percentage points over the same period but remained comparatively low at 13.1%.Parity in labour-force participation registered only a marginal improvement over the past two decades, reaching 44.1% in 2026.Education, Health And Political EmpowermentIndia recorded a 96.6% parity score in the Educational Attainment subindex, although this was 0.5 percentage points lower than the previous year.In Health and Survival, the country improved on its previous year’s performance to reach 95.6% parity. Despite an upward trend since 2017, India’s sex ratio at birth in 2026 remained nearly one percentage point below its 2006 level.Political Empowerment was India’s highest-ranked subindex in 2026, with 24.5% of the gap closed and a global ranking of 67th.India began with one of the highest parity scores on the head-of-state indicator, at 42.9% in 2006. The figure increased to 72.3% during the index’s first decade, reflecting several years of female leadership within the indicator’s rolling 50-year reference period. Since 2021, however, the score has declined to 40.7%.Across other indicators, parity remained comparatively lower in India, according to the WEF.In Parliament, 16.1% of the gender gap was closed in 2026, an overall improvement of 7 percentage points since 2006.At the ministerial level, India’s score increased by 2.4 percentage points, from 3.5% in 2006 to 5.9% in 2026. It remained substantially below the country’s peak score of 30% recorded in 2019.India-New Zealand FTA Clears Parliament, Set To Boost Trade, Investment & Student MobilityWomen Remain Underrepresented In Influential RolesAccording to the report, political empowerment has registered the largest global gains since 2006 but has been in reversal since 2016.The share of economies led by a woman peaked in 2022 but has since fallen back to 2016 levels, the report said.Women have reached C-suite positions and Cabinets but remain underrepresented in roles carrying the greatest economic and political influence. Women hold 19.1% of chief executive officer roles, while only one in 10 ministerial portfolios held by women is considered highly influential.Women also accounted for fewer than one in five AI engineers and remained underrepresented at every level in AI firms.Southern Asia was the lowest-scoring region for economic participation and opportunity.Marking its 20th year, the index benchmarked 145 economies across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.“Twenty years of data show that gender parity is achievable. Economies at every income level have made progress, so the barrier is not a lack of resources,” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.“Parity is a foundation for growth and competitiveness, but it is not inevitable. To accelerate, governments and employers need to learn from the policies that work and apply them faster. A new economy demands a new approach to talent,” she added.Also Watch:Iceland Leads As Australia Enters Top 10Namibia climbed four places to fourth position, becoming the highest-ranked country in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was followed by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, Australia, Germany and Ireland.Australia entered the top 10 for the first time. Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden have appeared in every top 10 since the index began in 2006.Iceland remained the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap, recording 93% parity.

In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, India reported a 41.2% parity score, 0.5 higher than the previous edition but 3.5 percentage points lower from its best result in 2013