The World Economic Forum has acknowledged the need to include women’s participation in local bodies in its gender gap report.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who attended the WEF annual meeting at Davos, has stated on Twitter that WEF recognizing the need to include the aspect of women’s participation in local bodies like Panchayats where they play a pivotal role is a moment of victory for the women.
She Tweeted, “At @MinistryWCD, we are happy to share that #WEF @Davos has recognized the need to enumerate women’s participation in local govt. bodies in the Gender Gap Report. This is a big victory for 1.4 million grassroots women locally elected at the panchayat level in India. #IndiaAtDavos2023.”
The WEF recently ranked India at 135 out of 146 countries in its Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index for 2022. India has been ranked low in the index for the last few years. The Indian government has raised objections to the report repeatedly pointing out that the index doesn’t consider women’s participation in local government bodies.
