Why did Pakistan rank last in the Gender Gap Index 2025?

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Today, I was writing an assignment on “The condition of women’s reproductive health in Pakistan” and this question seemed funny to me. I thought to myself that how can I write about the condition of Pakistani’s women’s “reproductive health” when the country that they live in is declared the overall worst place for women in the world ?.

This question had put me in a dilemma. Without knowing I started writing about the injustices faced by Pakistani women instead of some positive interventions for women’s reproductive health.Pakistan being part of the developing world still has miles to go until it grasps the significance of women’s reproductive health.

It saddens me deeply to mention that my country ranked last in the Gender Gap Index of 2025.

The Gender Gap Report takes many things in consideration before assigning each country a number in decimal ( 1 being complete gender equality). This was a report on 148 countries including Pakistan. The number determines the progress in gender parity across four key areas; health, education, economy and politics. Basically, it takes several things into account e.g. The number of women working in labour force and if they recieve equal pay to men. Also the number of women getting educated in primary and secondary schools, partaking in politics, economy, getting access to necessary health facilities etc.

This report explains how Pakistanis view and treat women alone. I do not say that this is the case in all parts of Pakistan, especially the highly developed ones, there women are working alongside men but the numbers are not very convincing. In the country, protests like the Aurat March are deeply discouraged and considered unnecessary because the people believe that women have gotten their due rights, But the Gender Gap Index tells us something else.

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Many cases such as the murder of Qandeel Baloch in 2016 posed as “honour killing”, another in 2024 where Sidra bibi of Rawalpindi was killed due to marrying the man of her choice.

The Noor Mukadam case of 2021, where noor was beheaded after being sexually assaulted.

The murder of 17 year old Sana Yousaf is another instance of brutal killing in the name of honour. All of these women that did not recieve justice are examples of the perpetually occurring gender based violence in Pakistan.

Still, the idea of Feminism and gender equality is a discouraged one and a topic of controversy in the country. Some people consider it a toxic modernized term for demeaning men, which I consider to be very ironic.

Pakistan is an Islamic republic, and therefore it is the duty of the people to give women the rights Islam has given them and empower them by it, instead of introducing the toxic culture in Islam and using it as a weapon against them. That’s why we see the same women thriving abroad who had equal to no opportunities in Pakistan to express their potential.

Lets not forget the two faced nature of the men, they are brought up with the mentality that the immoralities committed by them are a part of their NATURE and if done by the women are a threat to the family’s honour. Them posing as feminists in front of women of interest and doing the exact opposite in front of the household women is a proof of their hypocrisy. Like this, the society is cunningly dominated by their toxic masculinity and multifaceted nature.

A change can only be brought about if the masses are properly educated on religion and culture is not posed as religion.

Putting Culture before religion, misinterpreting religion, and causing the uprise of illiterate Islamic scholars are the leading causes of the non-development of our nation and our big achievements like being the last ranked in GGI is adding fuel to our existing economic backwardness.