Pakistan has earned a dubious distinction for itself, becoming the second worst country in the world in terms of gender parity.

Pakistan is ranked 148 out of 149 countries in the ‘Global Gender Gap Index 2018’ report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday.
According to the report, four Muslim countries — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Pak­istan — are the four worst-performers in the world where the number of women holding managerial positions is the lowest.

Pakistan has been clubbed with Saudi Arabia, the traditional center of women rights abuses, on the list. Categorized as the lowest-ranked country in South Asia, Pakistan closed 55 per cent of its overall gender gap as compared to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which were the top-ranked countries in the region, having closed just over 72pc and nearly 68pc of their overall gender gap, respectively.

The Geneva-based organization’s annual report tracked disparities between the genders in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.

Pakistan’s scorecard showed that in terms of economic participation and opportunity, it ranked 146th, while in health and survival, its rank was 145. In terms of political empowerment, Pakistan was positioned at 97.  

With an average remaining gender gap of 34.2pc, South Asia was the second-lowest scoring region on this year’s Global Gender Gap Index, ahead of the Middle East and North Africa and behind Sub-Saharan Africa.