Pakistan Falls to Bottom of Global Gender Gap Index 2025
- Abeera Marium Siddiqui
- June 13, 2025
- 4:07 pm
- 40
- Trending
In the latest Global Gender Gap Index 2025, Pakistan ranks at the very bottom—148 out of 148 countries. This is the second year in a row the country’s score has dropped, falling from 57% in 2024 to 56.7% in 2025.
The Global Gender Gap Index 2025 tracks gender equality in four key areas: economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Pakistan’s ranking reflects major issues across all these dimensions.
While education saw slight progress, it wasn’t enough. The country’s score for educational attainment rose by 1.5 percentage points, reaching 85.1%. However, most of this change came from a drop in male enrollment in higher education, not a strong increase in female participation. Female literacy improved slightly—from 46.5% to 48.5%—but overall educational reach remains low.
The economic picture looks even more concerning. Pakistan’s score for economic participation dropped by 1.3 percentage points. Wage gaps and income inequality continue to grow. According to the World Bank, only 22.8% of Pakistani women are part of the labor force. Very few hold leadership or management roles. The report also noted a rise of four percentage points in perceived wage inequality, showing deeper problems in workplace equality.
Political empowerment showed a similar decline. Pakistan’s score in this area fell from 12.2% in 2024 to 11% in 2025. The number of women in parliament rose slightly by 1.2 percentage points. However, no women hold ministerial positions now. In fact, Pakistan is listed among countries with all-male cabinets.
Despite some changes, the country has only closed 2.3% of its gender gap since the index began in 2006. This year’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025 confirms Pakistan’s continued struggle with gender equality in all sectors. The results show the urgent need for long-term reforms to close these persistent gaps.
