Women empowerment yet a fragile phenomenon: WEF report

The World Economic Forum (WEF) report on Global Gender Gap (GGG) 2007 has claimed that economic and political empowerment of women in Pakistan is yet a fragile phenomenon as Islamabad stands third from the bottom in 128 nations in the world index.
The report, based on hard data on women participation in economic, political, workforce and policy-making process, has indicated that Pakistan is positioned at Number 126 in 128 nations in key areas selected for the report.
The report claimed that women are paid less than men for work in Pakistan and their participation in key areas, like economic affairs, is not encouraged by a vast majority of male-dominated society. The report released here said the most important determinant of a country's competitiveness is its human talent--the skills, education and productivity of its workforce. And women account for half of the potential talent base throughout the world. Over time, therefore, a nation's competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilises its female talent. To maximise its competitiveness and development potential, each country should strive for gender equality to give women the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities as men.
The report said numerous studies during the last decade have confirmed that reducing gender inequality enhances productivity and economic growth. Research demonstrates that investment in girls' education reduces female fertility rates; lowers infant and child mortality rates, lowers maternal mortality rates; increases women's labour force participation rates and earnings; and fosters educational investment in children. All these outcomes not only improve the quality of life they also foster faster economic growth. The economic benefits of scaling back barriers to women's engagement in the workforce can be substantial.
It added that a recent United Nations report on economic and social commission for Asia and the Pacific countries found that restricting job opportunities for women is costing the region between $42 and $56 billion a year. A World Bank study demonstrates that the costs of similar restrictions have also imposed huge costs throughout the Middle East where decades of substantial investment have dramatically reduced the gender gap in education and health but the gender gap in economic opportunity remains the highest in the world, with only about one-third of women participating in the workforce.
The report added that benefits of greater economic opportunity for women are certainly not limited to developing countries. It referred a recent research which claimed that reduction in the male-female employment gap has been an important driver of European economic growth in the last decade. And, closing this gap would have huge economic implications for the developed economies, boosting US GDP by as much as 90 percent, Eurozone GDP by as much as 13 percent and Japanese GDP by as much as 16 percent.
Reducing gender inequality in these countries could play a key role in addressing the future problems posed by ageing populations and mounting pension burdens. These reports confirmed that the countries where it is relatively easy for women to work and to have children, female employment and female fertility both tend to be higher.
Over the past few decades, both developed and developing countries have made substantial progress in educating women and improving their health outcomes. In many developed countries, women now account for more than half of the college and university graduates and many developing countries have dramatically reduced gender gaps in literacy and primary/secondary education. Yet even in developed countries whose dependence on knowledge industries and knowledge workers is large and growing there are still significant gaps in the job opportunities for women and in the wages paid women compared to their male counterparts and these gaps are even larger in most developing countries.
Innovation requires new, unique ideas-and the best ideas flourish in a diverse environment. This implies that companies benefit by successfully integrating the female half of the available talent pool across their internal leadership structures. The studies exploring this link have shown a positive correlation between gender diversity on top leadership teams and a company's financial results.
The report added that women account for half of the world's population and half of its talent. The costs of not developing and using this talent are huge. It said women have come a long way, but there was still a considerable way to move forward. The good news is that a growing number of business, political and social leaders around the world are embracing gender equality as a policy priority.
The GGG Index 2007 raised five key concerns. It highlighted the greater need for progress by showing that no country in the world has yet reached equality between women and men--the highest ranking country has closed a little over 80 percent of its gender gap while the lowest ranking country has closed only a little over 45 percent of its gender gap. The Index carried a possible role model by referring the countries that, regardless of the overall level of resources available, have divided these resources equitably between women and men.
The Index, coupled with the country profiles, allowed the users to understand how far each country is from closing the gap in each of the four critical areas and provides a snapshot of the legal and social framework within which these outcomes are produced. It indicates that both progress and decline are possible in a relatively short time frame. It has a correlation between the gender gap and national competitiveness, providing an added impetus for countries to incorporate gender equality into their national priorities.
GENDER GAP SUBINDEXES IN PAKISTAN:

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Economic participation and opportunity          126     0.372     0.577

Labour force participation                      121      0.39      0.69

Wage equality for similar work (survey)          97      0.60      0.64

Income (PPP US$)                                118      0.29      0.50

Legislators, senior officials, and managers     112      0.02      0.26

Professional and technical workers               92      0.35      0.68

Educational attainment                          123     0.734     0.916

Literacy rate                                   123     0.734     0.916

Literacy rate                                   120      0.57      0.85

Enrolment in primary education                  125      0.76      0.97

Enrolment in secondary education                119      0.74      0.92

Enrolment in tertiary education                  84      0.88      0.81

Health and Survival                             121     0.950     0.958

Sex ratio at birth (female/male)                  1      0.94      0.92

Healthy life expectancy                         127      0.96      1.04

Political Empowerment                            43     0.148     0.142

Women in parliament                              41      0.27      0.19

Women in ministerial positions                  110      0.06      0.13

Number of years with a female head of state      13      0.11      0.11

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