Lok Sabha Question No. 1640 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-16
Subject: Global Gender Gap Index
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Achyutananda Samanta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1640 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.12.2022

## GLOBAL GENDER GAP INDEX

## 1640.  SHRI ACHYUTANANDA SAMANTA:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- a.  whether the Government is aware that India ranks 135 out of 146 countries in Global Gender Gap Index by World Economic Forum, if so, the details thereof;
- b.  the initiatives taken to improve economic and political empowerment and safety and security of women;
- c. whether the rural women suffer more from political and economic divide, if so, the steps being taken to improve political and financial condition of women;
- d.  whether the Government plans to work on time-use survey reports to bridge divide between men and women, if so, the details thereof; and
- e.  whether the Government has any plan on reducing current domestic burden on women to incentivise them to increase economic participation and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (e) The Global Gender Gap Report 2022 released by the World Economic Forum ranks India at 135 out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) with a score  of  0.629  out  of  1.  GGGI  is  a  composite  index  comprising  four  sub-indices, weighted equally, which are (i) Economic Participation and Opportunity, (ii) Educational Attainment, (iii) Health and Survival, and (iv) Political Empowerment.

Government of India has given utmost priority to economic and political empowerment and safety and security of women. In this regard, 'Mission Shakti' has been launched as an umbrella scheme  for the safety, security  and  empowerment  of  women  for implementation  during  the  15 th Finance  Commission  period  2021-22  to  2025-26. Mission Shakti seeks to realise the Government's vision for 'women-led development' by  addressing  issues  affecting  women  across  the  life-cycle  continuum.  The  'Sambal' sub-scheme under Mission Shakti is for safety and security of women. It has following components:

- i. One Stop Centres (OSCs) to provide integrated services like legal and psychosocial  counselling  and  support,  providing  information  about  help  and  facilities available for women etc., under one roof.
- ii. Women Helpline (181-WHL) ,  an  emergency/non-emergency  response  system on  a  toll-free  telephonic  short  code  181  which  is  under  integration  with  ERSS (112) and other existing helplines and OSCs.
- iii. Beti  Bachao  Beti  Padhao  (BBBP) as  the  main  initiative  for  behavioural  and mindset change. It has been expanded to cover all districts of the nation.
- iv. Nari  Adalat  A  new  sub-component  for  providing  women  with  an  alternate grievance  redressal  mechanism  for  resolving  cases  of  petty  nature  such  as harassment, subversion, curtailment of rights or entitlements, etc.

Some major initiatives taken for economic and political empowerment of women are as under:

## Economic Empowerment

-  Sakhi Sadan (Working Women's Hostel) scheme provides safe and affordable housing  for  working  women  and  thereby  encourages  more  women  to  seek employment.
-  Palna ,  the  National  Crèche  Scheme,  ensures  that  women  take  up  gainful employment through providing a safe, secure and stimulating environment to the children.
-  Hubs for Empowerment of Women (HEW) at National, State and District level have been approved under Mission Shakti. The support under HEW is available for guiding, linking and  hand  holding  women  to  various  institutional  and schematic  set-up  for  their  empowerment  and  development  including  equal access to healthcare, quality education, career and vocational counselling/training, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, backward and forward linkages,  health  and  safety  for  workers,  social  security  and  digital  literacy  at various levels across the country.
-  Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has been initiated by Government, inter alia,  for  facilitation  of self-employment. Under PMMY, collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals to  enable  them  to  setup  or  expand  their  business  activities.  Majority  of  the beneficiaries under this yojana are women.
-  Stand Up India scheme promotes entrepreneurship  amongst  women,  SC  and ST  categories,  i.e.,  those  sections  of  the  population  understood  to  be  facing significant hurdles due to lack of advice/ mentorship as well as inadequate and delayed credit.
-  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana aims to enable a large number of Indian youths including women to take up industry-relevant skill training in securing a better livelihood.
-  Deen  Dayal  Antyodaya  National  Urban  Livelihoods  Mission focuses  on creating opportunities for women in skill development, leading to market-based employment.
-  Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas  Yojana aims  to  provide  housing  under  the  name  of woman also.
-  Sukanya  Samriddhi  Yojna -  Girls  have  been  economically  empowered  by opening their bank accounts under this scheme.
-  Skill Upgradation & Mahila Coir Yojna is  an  exclusive training programme of MSME aimed at skill development of women artisans engaged in coir Industry.
-  Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme is a major credit-linked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector.

## Political Empowerment

-  In order to bring women in the mainstream of political leadership at the grass root level, Government has reserved 33% of the seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions for  women.  Capacity  Building  of  Panchayat  Stakeholders  including  Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) of Ministry of Panchayati Raj is conducted with a  view  to  empowering  women  to  participate  effectively  in  the  governance processes.

As per the latest available report of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the share of seats held by women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions is 44.4% which indicates significant participation of rural women in the political system of the country.

The rate of participation of women (women person-days out of total in percentage) in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme during the last three financial  years  (2019-20  to  2021-22)  and  current  financial  year  2022-23  (as  on 15.12.2022)  stands  at  54.78%,  53.19%,  54.71%  and  56.19%.  Further,  as  per  the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2020-21 report released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in usual status for  rural  women  is  27.7%  and  for  urban  women  it  is  18.6%.  These  data  indicate significant economic empowerment of rural women in the country.

As  per  the  Time  Use  Survey  (TUS)  (January  -  December  2019)  conducted  by  the Ministry  of  Statistics  and  Programme  Implementation,  in  both  rural  and  urban  India, about 80% females are involved in unpaid domestic services for household members devoting about 5 hours per day compared to about 20% males with about 1 hour and 30 minutes per day.

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women inter-alia aims at changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and involvement of both men and  women.  It  provides  policy  directions  to  ensure  women's  perspectives  which  are included  in  designing  and  implementing  macro-economic  and  social  policies  by institutionalizing  their  participation  in  such  processes.  The  policy  aims  to  recognise women  as  producers  and  workers  in  the  formal  and  informal  sectors  (including homebased workers) and appropriate policies relating to employment and her working conditions are accordingly drawn up.

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