Bangladesh has held its topmost position among the countries of South Asia in ensuring gender equality for the eighth time in a row, according to a latest report by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Despite being the best performer in the region, Bangladesh fell six notches to rank 71st among 146 countries on the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2022, which benchmarks countries based on how close they are to reaching gender equality.
According to the 16th edition of the report, published on Wednesday, Bangladesh’s overall gender gap widened by 0.5% to 71.4% in 2022 which caused its global position to deteriorate.
Bangladesh has managed to stay ahead of all South Asian nations since 2014.
In the latest report, Nepal ranked second best in the region and 96th globally.
Sri Lanka ranked third in the region and 110th overall after closing the gender gap by 67%. It is followed by the Maldives at the 117th position and Bhutan at the 126th position.
India’s position on the index is 135th, third from the bottom in the region.
Afghanistan was named the least gender-equal country in the world and also in South Asia, with the gender gap closed by 43.5%. Pakistan stood at 145th globally, being the second worst in the region.
Although no country has yet achieved full gender parity, the top 10 economies have closed at least 80% of their gender gaps.
Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 13th time and the only one to have closed more than 90% of the gender gap, the report said.
Iceland is followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden.
Four key dimensions
The WEF prepares the index measuring gender-based gaps on four key dimensions – economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
The scores placed Bangladesh at 123rd in educational attainment, 129th in health and survival, and ninth in political empowerment.
On economic participation and opportunity, the report said there was a reduction in both men and women’s workforce participation by 3.6% and 5.45%, respectively. However, the proportional impact was higher for women.