Pakistan was ranked last among the 148 countries of the World Report on the World Government of the Sex of the World Economic Forum (WEF), stressing the persistent disparities between the sexes in economic participation and political representation, despite the modest gains in the literacy of women.
The annual report, published earlier this week, assesses parity between the sexes through four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, the level of education, health and survival and political autonomization.
“Occupating the lower rank of the index (148), Pakistan sees its overall drop in the parity score of last year’s edition from 57% to 56.7%,” said the report, marking the second consecutive annual drop in the country’s score.
The report has recorded limited progress in education, with an improvement of 1.5 point points in the level of education, increasing parity in this area to 85.1%. The gain was partly pulled by an increase in the literacy of women, which increased from 46.5% to 48.5%.
Learn more: Pakistan ranks second in the world gender index
“Part of the change is driven by an increase in literacy rates for women from 46.5% to 48.5%,” said the report. However, he warned that improvement at the university level was partly due to a drop in male registration, rather than a significant increase in women’s participation.
Pakistan’s score on economic participation and the opportunity decreased by 1.3 percentage points in a context of enlargement of income and salary gaps. The report cited a marginal increase in the disparity of income and an increase of four percentage points of the inequality of the wages perceived.
According to a World Bank report in 2024, women represent only 22.8% of Pakistan’s workforce and their representation in leadership and management roles remains low.
The country has also experienced a drop in political empowerment. Parity in this category increased from 12.2% in 2024 to 11% in 2025. While the representation of women in parliament increased slightly by 1.2 percentage points, the share of women in ministerial posts rose from 5.9% to zero, said the WEF.
“Overall, Pakistan has concluded + 2.3 of its gap between the sexes since 2006,” noted the report. “However, this year’s results are a second consecutive drop in the best score of the 57.7% economy obtained in 2023.”
Pakistan has regularly classified near the world’s world gap index. The 2025 report highlights the country’s continuing struggle to create equitable opportunities for women, especially in political and economic spheres. Although the progress of education is encouraging, it remains insufficient to overcome wider systemic inequalities.
