Lok Sabha Question No. 3212 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-13
Subject: Global Gender Gap Index
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Gaurav Gogoi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3212 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2024

## GLOBAL GENDER GAP INDEX

## 3212. SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  government  is  aware  that  India's  global  ranking  on  gender inequality  has  been  falling  in  recent  years  indicating  a  decline  in  women's political, economic and educational empowerment;
- (b) if so, the details of measures taken by the Government to address the widening gender gap in the country;
- (c) whether the Government has identified any specific factors behind the falling rank in the Global Gender Gap Index, if so, the details of the areas identified which require immediate attention and intervention;
- (d) whether the Government has any measures to collect and analyze genderdisaggregated data to monitor progress and identify areas of concern, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the manner in which the Government is evaluating the effect of gender equality initiatives; and
- (f) if so, the details of the mechanisms put in place to hold officials accountable for progress?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (f):   The Global Gender Gap Report 2024 is released by the World Economic Forum, a non-government organization. It ranked India at 129 out of 146 countries on its  Global  Gender  Gap  Index  (GGGI).  The  Global  Gender  Gap  Report  2023  had ranked India at 127 out of 146 countries and 135 out of 146 countries in 2022.

Government of India has given utmost priority to bridge the gender gap in India, by reducing disparity between men and women and by increasing socio-economic status of women and their participation in various fields. Some major initiatives taken by the

Government of India for bridging the gender gap in economic and political life and education are as follows:

## Economic Empowerment

Government has taken several initiatives to enhance women's participation in labour force. The labour laws have specific provisions relating to women workers besides all other rights under labour laws which, inter alia, include:

- The  Maternity  Benefit  Act,  as  amended  in  2017 ,  has  enhanced  paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for two surviving children. It also has  enabled  provision  of  'Work  from  Home',  after  availing  of  the  maternity benefit by the woman, where the nature of work being assigned of such nature, for such period and on such conditions mutually agreed upon by the employer and the woman employee.
- The Government has also enacted the four Labour Codes, namely the Code on Wages 2019; the Industrial Relations Code 2020; the Code on Social Security 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 ,  which inter  alia ,  promote  participation  of  women  in workforce in a dignified manner through a number of provisions; such as no discrimination on the ground of gender in matters relating to wages, recruitment and in the conditions of employment; Women are entitled to be employed in all establishments for all types of work even before 6 AM and beyond 7 PM subject to their consent and other adequate safety measures.

Some major initiatives taken by the Government for improving economic empowerment of women are as follows:

- Sakhi Niwas (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.  20  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. 84% of the loans sized Rs 10 lakh to Rs. 1 crore were made available to women.

- 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 for all, incentivisng women's property ownership through encouraging sole and joint ownership of property registered under the name of woman.
- Sukanya  Samriddhi  Yojna -  Families  are  incentivised  economically  to financially invest in the future of girls 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  creditlinked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector.
- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) mandates that at least one third of the jobs generated under the scheme (MGNREGS) should be given to women.

## Political Empowerment

- The country currently has a woman as the Head of the State.
- In  order  to  bring  women  in  the  mainstream  of  political  leadership  at  the grassroot 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. Today, out of the 31 lakh elected representatives in PRIs,  14  lakhs,  or  46%  are  women,  much  higher  than  the  constitutional mandate, and the highest absolute number of women in local governments globally.
- In 2023, Parliament of India passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, ' Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' , marking a historic milestone in its national journey to foster equitable women's representation in public  life  at  all  levels  of  the  federal  structure.  This  landmark  legislation rotationally reserves one-third of all seats for women in the Lower House of Parliament,  Lok  Sabha,  and  in  all  federal  State  Legislative  Assemblies, including  Legislative  Assembly  of  National  Capital  Territory  of  Delhi,  thus

institutionalizing  representation  of  women  in  politics  at  the  highest  levels  of public decision-making.

## Education

- Samagra Shiksha :  The  Department of  School  Education  and  Literacy,  M/o Education  launched  an  integrated  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for  school education,  i.e.,  'Samagra  Shiksha'  with  effect  from  the  FY  2018-19.  The scheme  subsumes  the  three  erstwhile  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  viz. 'Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan'  (SSA),  'Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha  Abhiyan' (RMSA) and 'Teacher Education'.
- To ensure greater participation of girls in schools and to reduce drop-out rate of  girls,  various  interventions  have  been  targeted  under  Samagra  Shiksha which include opening of schools in the neighbourhood as defined by the State, provision of free text-books & uniforms to girls up to Class VIII, provision of gender segregated toilets in all schools, teachers' sensitization programmes to promote girls' participation, provision for self-defence training for the girls from classes VI to XII, stipend to CwSN (Children with Special Needs) girls from class  I  to  Class  XII,  construction  of  residential  quarters  for  teachers  in remote/hilly areas/in areas with difficult terrain, vocationalization of secondary education, special projects for equity such as life skills, awareness programmes, incinerators, sanitary pad vending machines.
- Nav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram (New India Literacy Programme - NILP): The Union of India has approved a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely - Nav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram (New India Literacy Programme - NILP) to align with the National Education Policy 2020 and to support all the States and Union Territories  in  promoting  literacy  among  non-literates  across  the  country covering 5.00 crore non-literates under Foundational Literacy and Numeracy of the scheme with a financial outlay of Rs.1037.90 crore during the implementation period from 2022-23 to 2026-27.
- Under the Swacch Vidyalaya Mission , it was ensured that all schools have at least one functional toilet for girls by August, 2015. As per UDISE+2021-22, 97.48% Government Schools have the facilities of separate Girls' toilets and 98.2% Government Schools have the facilities of drinking water.
- Vigyan Jyoti was launched in 2020 to balance low representation of girls in different  streams  of  Science  and  Technology  from  9 th   to  12 th   standards benefiting over 80,000 girl students.
- Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) (2020) initiative  encourages  transformational  changes  at  institutional  level  towards achieving Gender Equality in the STEM area. In its pilot phase, 30 scientific institutions are working under GATI pilot towards achieving Gender Equality in STEM.
- Women Technology  Parks  (2017-18) have  been  established  as  resource centers where all necessary support is made available to women on Science & Technology based training, capacity building in various technologies.

Ministries/departments  under  Government  of  India  collect  data,  including  gender disaggregated  data,  for  monitoring  the  performance  and  implementation  of  their respective schemes and programmes. Gender disaggregated data is also collected by undertaking surveys and censuses by various agencies.

Under the Global Indices for Reforms and Growth (GIRG), it has been decided to leverage the monitoring of select Global Indices to drive reforms and growth in the country and improve service delivery.

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