Pakistan, Sept. 18 -- Pakistan has once again found itself near the bottom of the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, ranked 143rd out of 145 economies in 2026. The headline is grim by all accounts, even as the picture does not seem entirely static. Pakistan's parity score rose to 59.5 per cent, its strongest year-on-year improvement in a decade, driven largely by gains in education.

Nevertheless, female labour-force participation stands at 28.2 per cent against 81.5 per cent for men. Women account for barely 6.1 per cent of senior officials and managers, while estimated earned-income parity is only 26.3 per cent. Female literacy remains 48.5 per cent against 69.1 per cent for men. That Pakistan ranked first in the world for ...