Telling Numbers: On new gender equality index, India is 95th in 129 countries (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 1 : Society
Prelims level : SDG Gender Index
Mains level : Important indexes indication global gender equality

Context

• A new index to measure global gender equality, launched on Monday, ranks India at 95th among 129 countries.
• The SDG Gender Index comes close on the heels of the gender gap index of the World Economic Forum where India was ranked 108th.

How the ranking works

• The SDG Gender Index has been developed by Equal Measures 2030, a joint effort of regional and global organisations including African Women’s Development and Communication Network, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and International Women’s Health Coalition.
• It accounts for 14 out of 17 SDGs (sustainable development goals) that cover aspects such as poverty, health, education, literacy, political representation and equality at the workplace.
• A score of 100 reflects the achievement of gender equality in relation to the targets set for each indicator. It means, for example, that 100% of girls complete secondary education, or that there is around 50-50 parity for women and men in Parliament.
• A score of 50 signifies that a country is about halfway to meeting a goal.

Global Scenario

• The ranking found that the world is far from achieving gender equality with 1.4 billion girls and women living in countries that get a “very poor” grade.
• The global average score of the 129 countries which represent 95% of the world’s girls and women — is 65.7 out of 100 (“poor” in the index).
• Altogether, 2.8 billion girls and women live in countries that get either a “very poor” (59 and below) or “poor” score (60-69) on gender equality.
• Just 8% of the world’s population of girls and women live in countries that received a “good” gender equality score (80-89) and no country achieved an “excellent” overall score of 90 or above.

Key findings for India

• India’s highest goal scores are on health (79.9), hunger & nutrition (76.2), and energy (71.8). Its lowest goal scores are on partnerships (18.3, in the bottom 10 countries worldwide), industry, infrastructure and innovation (38.1), and climate (43.4).
• On indicators that define such goals, India scored 95.3 on the percentage of female students enrolled in primary education who are overage.
• Some of India’s lowest scores on indicators include the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (score 23.6; women made up 11.8% of Parliament in 2018). On seats held by women in the Supreme Court (4%), India has a score of 18.2.

Conclusion

• On gender-based violence, indicators include proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18 (27.3%), women who agreed that a husband/partner is justified in beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances (47.0%), and women aged 15+ who reported that they “feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where she lives” (69.1%).

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Which of the following come under the definition of a ‘State’ as defined under Part III of the constitution?
1. Public-private partnership firms.
2. Non- governmental organisations.
3. Tribunals.
4. Cooperative societies.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1) The SDG Gender Index ranking found that the world is far from achieving gender equality with 1.4 billion girls and women living in countries that get a “very poor” grade. Comment.