Lok Sabha Question No. 3394 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Global Gender Gap Index
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3394

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2022

## GLOBAL GENDER GAP INDEX

## 3394. DR. T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware the India  ranks  135  out of 146  countries  in Global Gender Gap Index by World Economic Forum;
- (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) The Global Gender Gap Report 2022 released by the World Economic Forum on 13 th July 2022 ranks India at 135 out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) with a score of 0.629 out of 1. The Global Gender Gap Report 2021 ranked India at 140 out of 156 countries with a score of 0.625.
- (b) Government  of  India  has  given  utmost  priority to economic  and  political empowerment and safety and security of women. The newly launched 'Mission Shakti' is  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. Some major initiatives taken by Government of India are as follows:

## 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 the new 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  self-employment.  Under  PMMVY,  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 yojna 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

-  The country has just elected a woman as the Head of the State.
-  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.

## Safety and Security

-  The Government has set up Nirbhaya Fund for projects for safety and security of women.
-  Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) ensures protection, survival and education of the girl child.
-  One Stop Centres provide services such as police, medical, legal, psychological support and temporary shelter to women affected by violence.
-  Shakti  Sadan provides  shelter,  food,  clothing  and  health  as  well  as  economic and  social security for the women  victims  of  difficult  circumstances  and trafficking.

(c)  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. However, the  World  Economic  Forum  does  not  take  into  account  this  huge  representation  of women at the grass root  level  of  democracy  as  'political  empowerment'  in  its  Global Gender Gap Reports.

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 29.07.2022) stands at 54.8%, 53.2%, 54.5% and 56.0%. 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.

(d) and (e) 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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