Can we close the gender gap?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) unveiled the 19th edition of its Global Gender Gap Report last week, casting an unforgiving spotlight on Pakistan. Ranked 148th out of 148 countries, the country has closed a mere 56.7 per cent of its overall gender gap. This bottom-of-the-list position is not just statistically alarming; it is a mirror held up to a nation in denial. It’s a wake-up call that Pakistan can no longer afford to snooze through.

Since the report’s inception in 2006, Pakistan has remained anchored in the lowest decile. In 2006, it stood at 112th out of 115 countries. Nearly two decades on, the needle has moved in reverse. While countries like Bangladesh have climbed the ranks through deliberate policy shifts, Pakistan’s gender gap has remained stubbornly wide, exposing a systemic failure to elevate gender inclusion from rhetoric to reform.

The report evaluates gender parity across four pillars: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. Pakistan’s 2025 performance mirrors that of 2024, showing no meaningful improvement. It ranks 143rd in Economic Participation, 139th in Education, approximately 132nd in Health, and 112th in Political Empowerment. These persistent gaps, in the face of global momentum towards gender equity, reveal a deeper dysfunction in how gender is understood, valued and integrated into national priorities.

The regional contrast is particularly stark. Pakistan is the last globally as well as the lowest ranked in South Asia. Bangladesh, in contrast, has surged to 24th place, having closed over 77.5 per cent of its gender gap. Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and Bhutan all perform significantly better. This divergence underscores how committed leadership and grassroots innovation can shift outcomes, even in similarly constrained environments.

It will take 123 years to achieve full global gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Report. That may sound like a long road ahead, but there’s progress worth noting. Just a year ago, the projection stood at 132 years. In 2024, the world moved 11 years closer to closing the gap – showing that change, though gradual, is possible with sustained commitment.

At the heart of the problem is the country’s persistent exclusion of women from public and private decision-making structures. Women make up less than 25 per cent of the labour force, face one of the widest wage gaps in the world and remain largely absent from corporate boards and regulatory bodies. The prime minister’s cabinet of 51 has just one female federal minister and two ministers of state, a telling reflection of symbolic representation rather than structural inclusion. Pakistan’s private sector replicates the same pattern, with IT, telecom, finance and media boards offering women little more than a token presence, if that. The resistance is not only towards women at the table but often toward them being in the room at all.

The reflexive national response to such reports often oscillates between denial and deflection, challenging the methodology, claiming cultural misalignment, or accusing the West of bias. Yet, the methodology used by the World Economic Forum is the same across all 148 countries. The issue lies not in the metrics but in the mirror. The data exposes an uncomfortable truth: gender is still an afterthought in our solutions architecture. We are not failing because the world is conspiring against us; we are failing because we have refused to look inward.

The roots of this crisis are entrenched. Deep-seated cultural norms restrict women’s mobility and autonomy. Although Pakistan has progressive laws on paper, institutional enforcement is fragile. Economic barriers like the lack of affordable childcare, unsafe public transportation and digital illiteracy further alienate women from the workforce. Meanwhile, political systems rely on tokenism rather than genuine inclusion, perpetuating a cycle of disempowerment.

But the trajectory is not irreversible. Pakistan has the tools; what it needs is the will. Innovative governance strategies must be explored, starting with gamifying gender parity at the provincial and district levels. Imagine publicly accessible gender scorecards tracking performance in education, health, workforce participation and leadership representation. Leaderboards could incentivise provincial governments through recognition and resource allocations, cultivating healthy competition and data-driven accountability.

Equally critical is gender-responsive budgeting. Every federal and provincial budget should undergo gender impact assessments. Dedicated funds must be earmarked for women’s entrepreneurship, digital skills, and financial inclusion. Data must drive these decisions. Yet Pakistan’s 2025 profile is riddled with gaps. From wage disaggregation to STEM education data, from care work to access to justice, our blindness in measurement reflects our failure in management.

This underscores the urgent need to strengthen and operationalise the National Gender Data Observatory under the National Commission for the Status of Women (NCSW). While the platform is supported by UN Women and others, it remains underutilised and under-resourced. To be effective, it must be empowered to systematically collect, standardise and continuously update gender-disaggregated data, leveraging AI and real-time dashboards to enable evidence-based policymaking.

Without credible data, policy remains speculative and detached from the lived experiences of Pakistani women. Although the prime minister has committed to closing the gender parity gap, that intent has yet to translate into institutional authority and support for the NCSW. Pakistan's efforts will remain symbolic at best until it is equipped with the mandate, resources and influence to shape national standards and enforce compliance.

Political reform in Pakistan must go beyond symbolic gestures. Reserved seats, while important, are no longer sufficient to ensure meaningful inclusion. Political parties must be held accountable not only for maintaining internal gender balance but also for delivering measurable outcomes on gender equity. Cabinets, both federal and provincial, should undergo regular audits assessing not just female representation, but the significance and influence of their assigned portfolios. This political evolution must be accompanied by a broader cultural transformation. Religious scholars and community leaders should be actively engaged in reshaping societal narratives, promoting inclusion as a shared value rather than a contested ideal. To create lasting change, gender equity must be embedded in school curricula, mainstreamed in national media, and championed through sustained public campaigns.

The care economy must move from the margins to the mainstream. Public childcare centres, parental leave legislation and workplace flexibility policies are not luxuries or Western concepts; they are levers of economic activation. Public-private partnerships can create a ‘Gender Equity Seal’ to recognise organisations championing inclusivity.

Pakistan’s position at the bottom of the Global Gender Gap Index is not destiny. It is the result of years of neglect, complacency and missed opportunity. But change is within reach. With deliberate action, transparent governance and empowered citizens, Pakistan can rewrite its gender narrative. The tools are there. The data is telling. The time to act is not in the next cycle but now.

The writer is a public policy expert and leads the Country Partner Institute of the World Economic Forum in Pakistan. He tweets/post @amirjahangir and can be reached at: aj@mishal.com.pk