NOW in its eleventh year, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016 ranks 144 countries on the gap between women and men based on health, education, economic and political indicators. The theory behind ranking countries on the gender inequality index is to understand whether resources and opportunities are being equitably distributed. Shockingly, Pakistan is ranked 143 out of 144 countries, holding the scorecard for the worst-performing state in South Asia. Indeed, the ranking is a troubling reminder of the poor state of gender equality in the country and in contrast to the general perception that Pakistani women are making progress in various sectors, such as education and political participation, and starting to benefit from legislation that protects their rights. So why has the WEF given Pakistan a poor scorecard? How is the term ‘gender gap’ explained? And how was the data collected and the final scores calculated given that certain societies are more closed than others when it comes to women’s lives? For example, given the disenabling environment for gender empowerment in Saudi Arabia and war-torn Syria, both are surprisingly ranked ahead of Pakistan. Consider the situation in Saudi Arabia where women face discriminatory policies that curb their basic rights and require them to obtain permission from a male guardian to work, study and travel. In contrast, Pakistani women have made strides in parliamentary politics and lawmaking, and there has been progress on closing the education enrolment gender gap as well. Much territory still needs to be traversed, of course, but there is little doubt that women here are slowly moving towards shaping the future of education, employment and politics.

Meanwhile, the variables used to create the index are from publicly available data indicators from international organisations and from a perception survey conducted by the WEF. Unfortunately, data collection may not always reflect the reality. Take the example of the World Press Freedom Index that has often accorded Pakistan a weak scorecard based on the increasing numbers of journalists intimidated and attacked in the country. More than anything, the fact that the media in Pakistan is attacked for doing its job demonstrates its independence. In the same way, perhaps the type of sample used for Pakistan in the gender report was problematic and the methodology in the perception survey imperfect. After all, many would agree that we are witnessing slow but steady progress towards an enabling environment for Pakistani women.

Published in Dawn October 27th, 2016