Over the last six years, while 85 per cent of countries were improving their gender equality ratios, for the rest of the world the situation was declining, most notably in several African and South American countries.
The sixth annual World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2011 released in New York yesterday shows a slight decline over the last year in gender equality rankings for New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and Britain this year, while gains are made in Brazil, Ethiopia, Qatar, Tanzania and Turkey.
Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) continue to hold top spots, having closed over 80 per cent of their gender gaps, while countries at the bottom of the rankings still need to close as much as 50 per cent.
At the regional level, in the Caribbean and Latin America, Cuba (20) takes back the top spot in the region due to the high number of female professional and technical workers (60 per cent) and in parliament (43 per cent), as well as for the high levels of primary, secondary and tertiary education enrolment.
Barbados, ranking 33, has fallen a notch from last year, but is still a considerable way down from its near top 20 position in 2009 (21st), and is playing catch-up to Trinidad and Tobago (21) and The Bahamas (22).
Brazil (82), while still placing on the lower half of the index, has moved up three places with improvements in perceived wage equality, women’s estimated earned income and the tenure of President Dilma Rousseff. Guatemala (112) continues to hold the last position in the region.
For the first year, data sets analyzing national policies designed to facilitate female workforce participation have been included in the report. The data, based on information from almost 60 countries, shows that while 88 per cent of countries have legislation prohibiting gender-based workplace discrimination, less than 45 per cent have a national benchmarking tool.
According to the report, 20 per cent of countries surveyed have mandated female corporate board representation and 30 per cent have mandated political participation.
“Smaller gender gaps are directly correlated with increased economic competitiveness,” says Saadia Zahidi, senior director, head of the World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme and report co-author. “With the world’s attention on job creation and economic growth, gender equality is the key to unlocking potential and stimulating economies.”
“Gender gaps close when countries recognize the economic and social imperatives. With the right policies, change can happen very quickly,” says co-author Laura Tyson, S.K. and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, United States.
The Global Gender Gap Report’s index assesses 135 countries, representing more than 93 per cent of the world’s population, on how well resources and opportunities are divided amongst male and female populations.
The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas: economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation and highly-skilled employment; education – access to basic and higher level education; political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures and health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio.
