Bhutan slides down the Global Gender Gap Index

The World Economic Forum introduced the first Global Gender Gap Index in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress over time.
According to the World Economic Forum report 2016, Bhutan’s rank in terms of the Global Gender Gap Index fell from 93 out of 136 countries in 2013 to 121 amongst 144 countries in 2016. The Global Gender Gap Index is determined on the basis of indices such as economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. Table 1 below shows Bhutan’s rank under each index:

Sl. No.	Sub-Index	Rank
		2013 (out of 136 countries)	2016 (out of 144 countries)
1	Economic participation and opportunity	27	99
2	Health and survival	82	125
3	Political empowerment	122	132
4	Educational attainment	116	121

Table 1: Gender Gap Index for Bhutan


The report shows that there is a significant disparity against women in the economy, education, health and politics in Bhutan. It also highlights the widening gender gaps in female labor force participation, estimated earned income and wage equality which could be attributed to the slow progress in realizing the full potential of the whole population. As such, this calls for the strengthening of efforts towards enhancing women’s representation in governance and addressing women’s social and economic development issues through gender equality policies and national strategies/action plans.

Ref: Kuensel, 16 December 2016