• Latest WEF Global Gender Gap report finds a world lacking meaningful & widespread change in terms of access to resources/oppos./decision making positions  
• SL sees a yr-on-yr decline in econ. participation/oppos. & political empowerment 

Based on the current data, it will take 134 years for the world to reach full gender parity, roughly five generations beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target. The lack of meaningful, widespread change effectively slows down the rate of progress to attain parity.

This alarming situation was explained in the latest Global Gender Gap 2024 (this year) report, issued this month (June) by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report stressed the importance of governments, businesses, and civil society actors working collaboratively to address challenges relating to achieving gender parity. Adding that ‘big lifts in economic gender parity’ are needed to ensure that women have unfettered access to resources, opportunities, and decision making positions, WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi called on governments to expand and strengthen the framework conditions needed for business and the civil society to work together in making gender parity an economic imperative, one that fulfils the most basic of needs and inspires the very edges of innovation.

The Index examines a subset of 101 countries that have been included in every edition of the Index since 2006.

In SL context

From its 115th place in 2023 (last year), this year, Sri Lanka has declined to the 122nd place. Compared with the statistics in 2023, this year, the country’s status has declined in terms of economic participation and opportunities (from the 124th place to 127th) and also political empowerment (from the 106th place to 123rd). Education attainment has improved (from the 85th place to 49th). However, health and survival remained in the first place in both the years.

In terms of scores (which are on a zero to one scale, where one represents the optimal situation or ‘parity’), the country’s overall score this year was 0.653. The economic participation and opportunity score was 0.544, the education attainment score was 0.997, the health and survival score was 0.980, and the political empowerment score was 0.090.

The indicators for health and survival were the sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy. Economic participation and opportunities were measured in terms of the labour force participation rate, wage equality for similar work, the estimated earned income, legislators, senior officials and managers, and professional and technical workers. The indicators for educational attainment included the literacy rate, and enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Women in Parliament and Ministerial positions, and years with a female/male Head of State (during the past 50 years) were the indicators for political empowerment.

The Index discussed access to finance, where it was highlighted that access to financial services had near equal rights, while there are unequal rights when it came to inheritance rights for widows and daughters. With regard to access to land assets and non-land assets, there are restricted rights in Sri Lanka. There were near equal rights when it comes to access to justice, and equal rights concerning the freedom of movement. The report indicated the existence of restricted rights when it came to the right to divorce and reproductive autonomy.

Key findings

The Index’s key finding was that, based on current data, it will take 134 years to reach full parity, roughly five generations beyond the 2030 SDG target. It added that the Index shows that while no country has achieved full gender parity, 97% of the economies included in the edition have closed more than 60% of their gap, compared to 85% in 2006.

Iceland (93.5%) has again been ranked 1st and has been leading the Index for a decade and a half. It also continues to be the only economy to have closed over 90% of its gender gap. Out of the remaining nine economies in the top 10, eight have closed over 80% of their gap.

Discussing regional results and the time to parity, the report said: “In 2024, South Asia ranks seventh, with a gender parity score of 63.7%, showing a variable trajectory throughout editions that has nonetheless resulted in a modest plus-3.9 percentage point improvement since 2006. Six out of the seven economies in the region rank below the top 100, and only six in the region have closed two thirds of their gender gap. South Asia ranks last in economic participation and opportunity. Its gender parity score of 38.8% communicates low labour force participation rates for women and significant gender disparities in leadership roles. Educational attainment scores 94.5%, having progressed by +13.4 percentage points since 2006, but retains substantive gender gaps in literacy and education, notably in Pakistan and Nepal. Health and survival remains stable at 95.4%, while political empowerment sees a slight 0.7-point decline from 2023 to 26%, reflecting gender imbalances in Ministerial and Parliamentary representation across the region.”

With regard to economic and leadership gaps, the report’s findings paid attention to several key aspects in terms of gaps.

Discussing the gaps in the economic, political and business context, it said that while the adoption of economic policies to advance gender equality has increased overall, across regions, there are stark differences in not only adoption but also resourcing and implementation. It explained that raising the required resources to close the gap requires a fundamental mindset to recognise gender parity as an engine for new, high quality growth. It added that encouragingly, policy developments in the care economy signal growing recognition of the economic significance of caregiving.

“Gender parity is a competitive advantage in an increasingly tough macroeconomic and business environment,”according to the Index.

Another aspect was evolving gender gaps in the global labour market, regarding which the Index said: “Parity in labour force participation globally has continued to improve since the last edition, rising beyond the 2018 levels to reach 65.7% for the constant sample of economies tracked since 2006, and standing at an aggregate score of 66.7% for those included in 2024 alone. Yet, regional variances continue to show that while women’s workforce participation is recovering at the global level, parity advances at very different speeds across contexts. The sustainability of this trend however, remains uncertain. Global unemployment is expected to rise in lower income economies, and the jobs gap, a broader measure of those looking for work, also includes a disproportionate number of women.”

Workforce representation and leadership were other key aspects of economic and leadership related gaps. Analysing the global situation, the Index said that LinkedIn research indicates that worsening macro-economic conditions are linked to a decrease in hiring women into senior leadership roles. It added however that the higher the women’s representation in the workforce is, the greater the resilience to retrenchment during economic downturns.

Regarding gender gaps in the skills of the future, the Index explained that gender differences in skilling profiles continue, skewing how men and women are engaging in the technological transition and the possibilities that they have in the future of work. While men and women continue to showcase science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills disproportionately, it added that the share of women with STEM skills has increased since 2016, from 24.4% to 27.1% in less than a decade.

The Index explained the role of professional networks: “Gender parity in the workforce can be advanced through both formal measures like quotas and policies, as well as through informal factors such as professional networks. LinkedIn data suggests that gender gaps in online professional networks lead to men typically having larger networks and stronger networks than women. Stronger networks are associated with the increased probability of career progression and receive more recruiter outreach. However, one silver lining is that women have more ‘weak’ ties, which have been linked to better career outcomes.”

Call for action

Noting that macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions play a key role in shaping current and future possibilities to achieve gender parity for countries and regions, the report explained that in recent years, gender equality progress has been constrained by consecutive shocks, progressive breakdowns in social and care related infrastructure, and enduring inequities aggravated by systemic transformations. It added that as shown by the index’s results, the scale and speed of progress are ‘deeply insufficient’ to achieve gender equality by 2030.

“The reticence to embrace gender parity as a condition for equitable and sustainable growth is impacting the global capacity to meet current and future challenges and costing women and girls their futures. This raises a key opportunity for government and business leaders to contribute to macro level solutions for gender equality, and with it, a different kind of growth. Resourcing gender equality efforts is crucial to avoid the rollback of hard earned progress, and to ensure that pathways to growth, prosperity, innovation, and sustainability are levelling the ground for all persons. Through collaborative efforts and targeted interventions between governments and business, we can make 50/50 a reality.”

It further explained that with a focus on fostering economic transformation, innovation, and sustainable growth, key objectives revolve around reshaping labour markets, enhancing industry level systems and integrating gender parity into the heart of global transformations in technology, climate action and care. Greater collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society leaders was also emphasised.