Pakistan ranked third-to-last in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2026, with 59.5 per cent gender parity, up almost 3pc from last year.
asserted
Pakistan → rank → year
The annual report benchmarked the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
asserted
report → benchmarke → dimensions
Pakistan scored the lowest out of the 38 lower-middle-income economies, as well as the seven South Asian countries, included in the report.
asserted
Pakistan → score → report
“While Pakistan remains among the lowest-ranked economies in the index, it has nonetheless narrowed its gender gap over time by 5.2 percentage points, up from 54.3pc in 2006,” the report said.
asserted
report → remain → 2006
“Furthermore, the 2026 edition marks its strongest year-on-year improvement in a decade, driven primarily by substantial gains in educational attainment.”
asserted
edition → mark → attainment
Economic participation and opportunity
Pakistan ranked 144th in economic participation and opportunity in 2026, moving up three places from its 147th rank in the same index in 2025.
asserted
Pakistan → rank → 2025
The report revealed that 81.46pc of men participated in the labour force, compared to only 28.21pc of women.
asserted
81.46pc → reveal → women
According to the report, an overwhelming 93.87pc of legislators, senior officials and managers in Pakistan’s workforce were men, compared to women making up 6.13pc.
uncertain
women → accord → 6.13pc
For the professional and technical workers category, the gap was lower with 30.96pc of the positions being occupied by women.
asserted
30.96pc → occupy → women
The country ranked 115th in wage equality for similar work and 140th in estimated earned income.
asserted
country → rank → income
The report also revealed that 4.9pc of firms in Pakistan had a female majority ownership, while only 3.4pc firms had female top managers.
asserted
firms → reveal → managers
Educational attainment
Pakistan ranked 130th in educational attainment, marking a substantial gain in the category.
Male literacy rate in the country was reported to be at 69.14pc, while female literacy rate stood at 48.52pc.
asserted
rate → rank → 48.52pc
Boys’ enrolment in primary education was at 83.01pc compared to 81.08pc among girls.
asserted
enrolment → compare → girls
In secondary education, male enrolment stood at 49.99pc, compared to 46.48pc in female enrolment.
asserted
enrolment → stand → enrolment
Pakistan ranked first in the world for enrolment in tertiary education, marking high parity, as 10.71pc of women and 11.01pc of men were enrolled.
asserted
10.71pc → rank → men
Health and survival
The country ranked 127th in the health and survival category.
asserted
country → rank → category
Within the category, Pakistan ranked first in sex ratio at birth, showing high parity between male and female births.
asserted
Pakistan → rank → births
Male healthy life expectancy stood at 57.1pc, compared to 56.69pc for women.
asserted
expectancy → stand → women
Pakistan ranked 107th globally in the political empowerment index.
asserted
Pakistan → rank → index
According to the report, 78.31pc of parliamentarians were men, compared to 21.69pc being women.
uncertain
21.69pc → accord → parliamentarians
Further, an overwhelming 96.55pc of individuals in ministerial positions were men, compared to only 3.45pc of positions being occupied by women.
asserted
3.45pc → compare → women
With a female head of state having ruled the country for 4.73 of the last 50 years, Pakistan ranked 39th in this subindex.
asserted
Pakistan → rule → subindex
The report also revealed that women in Pakistan didn’t enjoy equal rights regarding inheritance for widows and daughters.
asserted
women → reveal → widows
It added that women had “near-equal rights” when it came to access to financial services, land assets and non-land assets.
asserted
it → add → services
According to the report, women had “restricted rights” when it came to access to justice, while they had “equal rights” for freedom of movement.
uncertain
they → accord → movement
The report also said that women in Pakistan had “unequal rights” for right to divorce.
asserted
women → say → right
It added that 24.9pc of women had experienced gendered violence in their lives, and that women in Pakistan had “restricted rights” regarding their reproductive autonomy.
asserted
women → add → autonomy
The Aporia
