Daily Times

The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is a socio-economic index usually designed to measure the relative access of females and males to education. This index is released by UNESCO. In its simplest form, it is calculated as the quotient of the number of females enrolled in a given stage of education (primary, secondary, etc.) by the number of males. A GPI equal to one signifies equality between males and females. A GPI of less than one is an indication that gender parity favours males while a GPI greater than one indicates gender parity that favours females. The closer a GPI is to one, the closer a country is to achieving equality of access between males and females. It is used by international organisations, particularly to measure the progress of developing countries. At present, Pakistan’s GPI index is 0.750, which indicates that there is acute gender disparity in Pakistan. The Institute for Statistics of UNESCO also uses a more general definition of GPI: for any development indicator, one can define the GPI relative to this indicator by dividing its value for females by its value for males. Generally, the UNESCO documents consider gender parity in literacy to take lead over others.

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and is vital to the realisation of human rights for all. The overall objective of gender equality is to see whether, in the concerned society, women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.

It is shocking to note that according to the Global Gender Gap Index Report 2020, Pakistan is placed at 151st rank out of 153 countries, standing only above Iraq and Yemen. In the overall ranking, Pakistan has drastically slipped from 112th in 2006 to 151st in 2020. The report published by the World Economic Forum recently ranked Pakistan 150th in economic participation and opportunity, 143rd in educational attainment, 149th in health and survival and downgraded it from 37th to 93rd slot in political empowerment.

The report said that economic opportunities for women in Pakistan were limited with the country only managing to bridge 32.7 per cent of the gap between men and women in the workplaces. In health and survival, the gap had widened to 94.6 per cent, which meant that women did not have the same access to healthcare as men. Among the seven South Asian countries included in the index, Pakistan occupied the last position. Bangladesh was ranked 50th, followed by Nepal (101st), Sri Lanka (102nd), India (112th), the Maldives (123rd), and Bhutan (131st). The region has closed two-thirds of its gender gap. In the region, the female population is 860 million. Among the eight regions of the world, South Asia’s gender gap is the second-largest after the Middle East and North Africa region, where only 61 per cent of the gender gap has been shown.

Pakistan’s declining position on the gender parity index is an indictment of both its government and society. Bangladesh has left India far behind in the gender parity index, while India is known as the second-fastest growing economy of the world. With life expectancy at 72.49 years, and literacy rate at 72.8 per cent (female 70.09 per cent, male 75.7 per cent), Bangladesh is doing better than India in child immunisation and birth control.

Gender parity, which is used to measure gender balance in a given situation, can aid in achieving gender equality but is not the goal in itself. Gender equality is more than equal representation. It is strongly tied to women’s rights and often requires policy changes.

Gender equality is equally important because it is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and is vital to the realisation of human rights for all. The overall objective of gender equality is a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.

Gender inequality is a result of the persistent discrimination of one group of people based upon gender and it manifests itself differently according to race, culture, politics, country and economic situation.

Gender inequality acknowledges that men and women are not equal and that gender affects an individual’s living experience. These differences arise from distinctions in biology, psychology, and cultural norms. Some of these distinctions are empirically grounded while others appear to be socially constructed. Studies show the different lived experience of genders across many domains including education, life expectancy, personality, interests, family life, careers, and political affiliations. Gender inequality is experienced differently across different cultures.

According to the provisional results of the Sixth Population & Housing Census conducted in 2017 in Pakistan, there were 106,449,322 men versus 101,314,780 women. These figures were exclusive of 10,418 transgender individuals documented in the same census.

Pakistan’s GPI index is 0.750, which indicates that there is acute gender disparity in Pakistan

According to 2018 estimates by the World Bank, women constituted 48.54 per cent of the Pakistani population. In respect of Pakistan’s Population Gap by Age Group, the estimate of 2018 showed that the sex ratio at birth stood at 1.05 males born for every female. It peaked at 1.08 males/female for the 25-54 years age group and reached its lowest point at 0.87 males/female for the 65+ years age group.

In respect of Population Gap by Area of Location in Pakistan, there wa a gender gap in the demographics of rural versus urban populations, as documented by the 2017 census. There were a total of 67,300,171 males vs 64,886,593 females (ratio: 1.03) in rural areas whereas there were 39,149,151 males vs 36,428,187 females (ratio: 1.07) in urban areas. The provinces/territories with the greatest noted disparity included Balochistan (sex ratio: 1.10).

In respect of Health Disparity and Childhood Mortality, a survey revealed that a female child in India or Pakistan had a 30-50 per cent higher chance of dying between the first and fifth years of life. This difference may be attributable to poor nutrition, lack of preventive care and delays in seeking medical care.

As for Education Disparity in Pakistan, only 45.8 per cent of the female population was literate compared to 69.5 per cent of the male population, according to 2015 estimates.

The electoral turnout in Pakistan is similar. In the 2018 election, the gap between male and female voters increased to 12.5 million. According to Election Commission of Pakistan’s final rolls for 2018, 44.1 per cent of registered voters in Pakistan were female. Similar was the female representation in the government. Only four per cent of female candidates contesting in the 2018 General Elections won seats to the National Assembly. In 2017-18, women constituted 20 per cent of the Parliament, which was quite encouraging. It was also seen that women legislators took a greater interest in law-making than male legislators. They also attended more sittings in the Senate and the National Assembly (64 per cent and 67 per cent respectively) than male colleagues did during the same period (59 per cent and 54 per cent respectively).

Despite Pakistan’s encouraging indicators in certain areas as enumerated above, the Gender Development Index value for Pakistan is less than one i.e. only 0.750, which places it amongst the lowest in the South Asian region. Pakistan’s Gender Inequality Index rank was 133rd out of 160 countries in 2017, which is also not encouraging. In this scenario, the question arises what are the reasons behind this gender inequality? Some of the reasons usually offered to explain the persistence of gender inequality include large abstractions, such as patriarchy, capitalism, male self-interest, misogyny, and religion, etc.

The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence