ISLAMABAD: In the latest Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday, Pakistan has been ranked as the second-worst country in terms of gender parity, placed 145 out of 146 states.

The WEF report ranks 146 countries, of which the top five are Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden, while the five worst ones are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran and Chad.

The global gender gap has been closed by 68.1 per cent in 2022. According to the report, “At the current rate, it will take 132 years to reach full parity. This represents a slight four-year improvement compared to the 2021 estimate (136 years to parity).”

The report, however, noted that in the trends leading up to 2020, the gender gap was set to close within 100 years. Pakistan was among the five countries with a gender gap greater than 5pc, with the other countries being Qatar, Azerbaijan, China and India.

The report stated that Pakistan has closed 56.4pc of the gender gap in 2022 – the highest overall level of parity the country has posted since the report launched in 2006.

The report further stated that Pakistan has made “significant improvement” across three subindexes, with the highest positive variation on economic participation and opportunity. The country ranked 145 on economic participation and opportunity, 143 on health and survival, 135 on educational attainment and 95 on political participation.

“While wage equality carries the highest gender gap score among economic indicators, advances were also reported in estimated earned income, where women’s earnings increased 4pc compared to 2021.”

However, the report noted that women’s participation in the labour force declined in 2022 and the shares of both men and women in senior and professional categories also saw a downturn. “Gender parity scores for literacy, secondary and tertiary education enrolment all rose,” the report stated.

According to the report, Pakistan is the country where women have the smallest share of senior, managerial and legislative roles at a mere 4.5pc, according to the report. According to the report, Pakistan was also ranked as the second-worst country in the region. Bangladesh, which is ranked 71 globally, is the top country in the region, followed by Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.