Articles on 12 July 2025

Context

• India stands at a crossroads in its development journey, a global economic power, a digital innovator, and the world’s youngest nation by population, yet, beneath these commendable achievements lies a troubling paradox.
• The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report (2025) places India at 131 out of 148 countries, revealing an unsettling truth: gender inequality remains a deep-seated and structural impediment to the nation’s progress.
• Therefore, it is important to analyse the multidimensional nature of India’s gender gap, particularly in economic participation and health.

Reasons Behind India’s Gender Gap

• Structural Failures
  • India’s poor ranking is most alarming in the domains of economic participation and health and survival, two pillars that are foundational to gender equity.
  • While improvements have been noted in educational attainment, they have not translated into broader wellbeing or workforce participation for women.
  • The nation’s sex ratio at birth remains severely skewed, underscoring a persistent and dangerous cultural preference for sons.
  • Further, a decline in healthy life expectancy for women indicates chronic neglect in reproductive and preventive healthcare.
• Skewed Health Outcomes
  • A particularly sobering statistic is that 57% of Indian women aged 15–49 are anaemic, significantly limiting their capacity to learn, earn, and safely bear children.
  • Despite the scale and solvability of such problems, policy responses remain insufficient.
  • The lack of investment in primary healthcare and reproductive services, especially for rural and economically vulnerable women, reflects a structural failure to prioritise women’s health as a national development goal.
  • As the text emphasizes, without good health, economic inclusion becomes impossible.
• Economic Exclusion and Invisible Labour
  • India ranks 143rd on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, highlighting the extent of gendered economic exclusion.
  • Women earn less than a third of what men earn, and their participation in the formal workforce is disproportionately low.
  • These gaps are not only socially unjust but also economically self-defeating.
  • A McKinsey Global Institute report (2015) estimated that closing gender gaps could add $770 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, a goal that now seems missed.
  • Beyond workforce numbers, Indian women remain grossly under-represented in leadership and decision-making spaces.
  • From corporate boardrooms to parliamentary committees, their voices are systematically marginalised.
  • Most notably, women bear the burden of unpaid domestic and care work, performing nearly seven times more than men, according to the Time Use Survey.
  • Yet, this critical labour remains invisible in national accounting and grossly underfunded in public policy.

The Demographic Turning Point

• India’s demographic profile is evolving rapidly. While it currently enjoys the benefits of a young workforce, the share of elderly citizens is set to double by 2050, with a significant portion comprising older women, especially widows who face higher dependency.
• At the same time, fertility rates are now below the replacement level, signalling an eventual decline in the working-age population.
• This demographic transition intensifies the urgency of gender inclusion.
• As the dependency ratio rises, the burden on a shrinking workforce will increase, potentially undermining India’s fiscal and economic stability.
• The only sustainable response is to ensure that women, who make up half of the population, are healthy, empowered, and economically active.
• Gender equality is no longer just a matter of human rights. It is a demographic imperative and an economic necessity. 

From Slogans to Systems: The Need for Real Investment

• India does not lack policy frameworks or political ambition.
• What it lacks is real investment and systemic reform. Addressing gender inequality requires a multi-sectoral approach:
  • Public health systems must prioritise women’s preventive and reproductive needs.
  • Care infrastructure must be expanded and integrated into social protection policies.
  • Gender budgeting and time-use data must inform policy design.
• Most importantly, women must be seen not as passive beneficiaries, but as active builders of the economy.
• The Global Gender Gap Report (2025), then, is more than a ranking, it is a warning.
• If India fails to address its gender disparities now, it risks undermining the very gains it has so admirably achieved in other arenas.

Conclusion

• India’s aspirations of becoming a global superpower will remain incomplete if half its population is left behind.
• Gender inequality in health, labour, and care work is not just a social issue, it is a drag on the nation’s potential.
• To reverse this, the country must commit to transformative action that places women at the heart of its economic and demographic planning. The time for slogans has passed; the time for systemic investment and real reform is now.

View India’s Gender Gap Report Ranking as a Warning FAQs

Q1. What is India's rank in the Global Gender Gap Report 2025?
Ans. India ranks 131 out of 148 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2025, indicating significant gender inequality.

Q2. What percentage of Indian women aged 15–49 are anaemic?

Ans. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 57% of Indian women aged 15 to 49 are anaemic.

Q3. Why is unpaid care work a concern in India?
Ans. Unpaid care work is a concern because Indian women perform nearly seven times more of it than men, which limits their time, agency, and ability to participate in the formal economy.

Q4. How can care infrastructure help women in India?
Ans. Investing in care infrastructure such as childcare and eldercare services can reduce the burden of unpaid work on women and help them enter or re-enter the workforce.

Q5. Why is gender equality crucial for India’s future?
Ans. Gender equality is crucial for India’s future because it is essential for sustaining economic growth, addressing demographic shifts, and ensuring national development.

Source: The Hindu