According to the recently released Global Gender Gap Report 2022, India ranks 135 out of 146 countries and it has slightly improved its position in the overall ranking compared to the last year. However, India is one of the worst performers on gender equality in South Asia as only Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan perform worse in the region. This is largely due to the lowest gender parity in health and survival, poor representation of women in politics and a low labour force participation rate of women. Understanding women’s role in the workforce is critical to promote gender equality and realise economic growth in India. But the data to aid this understanding is missing, incomplete or inadequate.
For a better understanding and analysis of women’s empowerment in India, adequate and good quality data is required.
The many reasons for migration, data collection on ownership, management of assets and business at the individual level instead of the household level are also recommended for women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Source : Shiney Chakraborty in The Statesman