Pakistan has last classified among 148 countries in the GLOBER GENDER GENDER GENDER GRAIN report of the World Forum (WEF), which underlines persistent gender disparities in economic participation and political representation, despite the modest profits in women’s literacy.
The annual report, published earlier this week, evaluates gender parity in four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational achievement, health and survival and political empowerment.
“Occupy the lower range of the index (148), Pakistan sees its general decrease in the parity score of last year’s edition of 57 percent to 56.7 percent,” the report said, marking the second consecutive annual fall in the country’s score.
The report registered limited progress in education, with an improvement of the percentage points of 1.5 in educational achievement, which increases parity in that domain to 85.1 percent. The gain was partly driven by an increase in female literacy, which increased from 46.5 percent to 48.5 percent.
Read more: Pakistan occupies second place in the global gender equality index
“Part of the change is driven by an increase in female literacy rates of 46.5 percent to 48.5 percent,” the report said. However, he warned that the improvement at the university level was partly due to a decrease in male registration, rather than a significant increase in female participation.
The Pakistan score in economic participation and the opportunity decreased by 1.3 percentage points amid the expansion of income and salary gaps. The report cited a marginal increase in income disparity and an increase of four percentages in perceived salary inequality.
According to a 2024 World Bank report, women represent only 22.8 percent of Pakistan’s workforce, and their representation in leadership and management roles remains low.
The country also witnessed a decrease in political empowerment. Parity in this category fell from 12.2 percent in 2024 to 11 percent in 2025. While the representation of women in Parliament increased slightly by 1.2 percentage points, the proportion of women in ministerial positions fell from 5.9 percent to zero, said the Wef.
“In general, Pakistan has closed +2.3 of his gender gap since 2006,” the report said. “However, this year’s results are a second consecutive fall of the best economy score of 57.7 percent achieved in 2023”.
Pakistan has been constantly classified near the bottom of the global gender gap index. The 2025 report highlights the continuous fight of the country to create equitable opportunities for women, particularly in political and economic spheres. While progress in education is encouraging, it is still insufficient to overcome broader systemic inequalities.
