Indian women have the lowest socio-economic status in Asia-Pacific

India is a developing country and in terms of economic growth and healthcare etc. India is ahead of many of its neighbouring countries. When it comes to the position of women, however, India lags behind. According to the MasterCard's latest Index of Women's Advancement, the socio-economic standing of women in India is the lowest among the 16 Asia Pacific countries.

The survey stated: "Although women in Asia Pacific are increasingly more educated than their male counterparts, progress towards gender parity is still sluggish, especially in the areas of business leadership, business ownership and political participation." Along with India, Sri Lanka (46.2) and Bangladesh (44.6) were in the bottom three countries, but India (44.2) faired lower than both.

The Asian-Pacific countries that were at the top of the list were New Zealand (77), followed by Australia (76), the Philippines (72.6) and Singapore (70.5). Along with this, the survey also said that New Zealand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Thailand had a score of 100.0, which means that women in these countries are on the same level or above than their male counterparts.

There is still a ray of hope. India’s saving grace is that women in India along with women in China and Bangladesh have taken the biggest steps towards attaining gender parity in Regular Employment in the last nine years. According to the report, in India, this has risen by 39.6 points. In China it has increased by 16.0 index points and by 21.1index points in Bangladesh.

According to the Economic Times, MasterCard group head, Communications Asia Pacific Georgette Tan said "in a highly competitive market, companies are beginning to understand why integrating talented women into leadership structures is imperative for sustainable economic growth and innovation in both developed and developing markets."

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