Advertisment

Oz, NZ beat India hollow in parity for women in govt jobs

author-image
Chokkapan
New Update

BANGALORE, INDIA: India is at the bottom of the rung when it comes to ensuring gender parity, says a report by MasterCard.

Advertisment

"Women are still facing barriers to leadership positions in the government and private sector in India and across the Asia-Pacific region," according to MasterCard's latest Index of Women's Advancement.

The Worldwide Index of Women's Advancement measures the socio-economic standing of women across Asia-Pacific, Middle-East and Africa, stated a press release. The Index comprises three main indicators derived from additional sub-indicators: Employment (Workforce Participation, Regular Employment), Education (Secondary Education, Tertiary Education) and Leadership (Business Owners, Business Leaders, Political leaders)

Each indicator measures the ratio of women to every 100 men in each of the 14 Asia-Pacific markets covered by the research, the statement added.

Advertisment

"Scores are indexed to 100 to indicate how close or how far women in each market are to achieving socio-economic parity with men. A score under 100 indicates gender inequality in favor of males, while a score above 100 indicates inequality in favor of females. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance."

Overall, among the 14 Asia-Pacific markets, New Zealand ranked first (77.8 Index Score), followed by Australia (76.0), the Philippines (70.5), Singapore (67.5) and Taiwan (64.7).

At the other end of the spectrum, India (38.0), Japan (48.1) and Korea (49.7) had Index scores indicating that much more can be done to achieve gender parity, the release further stated.

Advertisment

The education ranking of 79.3 shows that Indian women have access to secondary and tertiary education, but there are barriers preventing them from taking top positions in the government or private sector, as indicated by the leadership ranking of 15.9, according to the MasterCard Index. "Hence, there is clearly much work to be done to remove such institutional barriers, thereby allowing women to take up these leadership positions in business and government."

Again the employment ranking of 43.6 shows that some immediate improvements are required to enhance women's participation in the workforce and to ensure that they are able to find regular employment.

Overall, the survey indicates that there is a lot of room for improvement and a clear need for affirmative action to ensure women's advancement in Indian society and the workplace, the report concluded.

tech-news