Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
22 June 2011
Worldwide Gender Inequality
Nordic countries trounce the rest of the
world in delivering the closest level of
equality between men and women
Iceland is the closest to closing the gender gap. Finland, Norway, and Sweden are close behind according to a World Economic Forum survey.
Review of 134 Countries for Gender Balance
The Global Gender Gap Index is published by the World Economic Forum with the assistance of researchers from Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley.
The 2009 edition gives top rating to Nordic countries, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland.
Bernard Gagnon
These Yemeni girls face major gender bias.
The authors of the study stress that it measures “gaps rather than levels.” So, if a country provides equal access to university for men and women it would score high.
On the other hand, if a country is equally unable to provide primary school to boys and girls it would also score high. The important measurement in this index is the gap in equality between males and females.
Such areas as health, education, politics, and economics are studied and assigned values.
Some Improvement in Gender Equality
Since the World Economic Forum began studying gender inequality in 2000 there has been progress in narrowing the gender gap.
Ricardo Hausmann, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement: “Of the 115
countries covered in the report since 2006, more than two-
South Africa, for example, has made a big jump forward from 22nd place to sixth since 2008. BBC News (October 27, 2009) reports that it has narrowed the gender gap “particularly in the labour force and political participation. Political gains were driven by the new government with more women in parliament and female ministers in the new government.”
Report Highlights Bias against Women
The authors of the report comment on the problem of girl children not being valued.
“There are still millions of ‘missing’ women each year because of the preference for sons in some parts of the world. There are too many female infants who do not receive adequate access to healthcare because of the lower value placed on girls.”
At the bottom of the rankings are countries whose presence comes as no surprise. The worst nation in terms of gender equality is Yemen, where women have yet to attain 50 percent of the status of men.
Saudi Arabia sits just four places ahead of Yemen. Since 2008, the kingdom’s literacy rate among women has dropped as has the primary and secondary school enrollment of girls.
The report points out that “Saudi Arabia remains the lowest-
Some Western Democracies Slide down
There are a few Western democracies that have gone backwards. Canada was in 14th place in 2006 and has dropped to 20th in the latest survey.
The United States (31), Belgium (33), and Austria (43) have also dropped several places over the last half decade.
And Turkey, which is hoping for membership in the European Union, ranks a dismal 129th on the list. Clearly, there will have to be vast improvement in the status of women before Ankara came make a credible application to join the club.
That said, even in the country at the top of the pile women have not yet achieved complete equality with men.
Sources
“Global Gender Gap Report 2009.” World Economic Forum, October 2009.
“Iceland Leads on Gender Equality.” BBC News, October 27, 2009.
“Nordic Countries Top ‘Gender Equality’ List.” Reuters, October 27, 2009.
© Canada and the World, June 2011
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GENDER GAP 2010
Top Ten
Iceland -
Norway -
Finland -
Sweden -
New Zealand -
Ireland -
Denmark 0.7719
Lesotho -
Philippines -
Switzerland -
Bottom Ten
Egypt -
Turkey -
Morocco -
Benin -
Saudi Arabia -
Ivory Coast -
Mali -
Pakistan -
Chad -
Yemen -
CANADA’S SLIDE
Since the Gender Equality Index was first introduced in 2006 Canada dropped several places in the rankings, with a bit of a recovery in 2010.
2006 -
2007 -
2008 -
2009 -
2010 -
“Girls and women make up one half of the world’s population and without their engagement, empowerment and contribution, we cannot hope to achieve a rapid economic recovery nor effectively tackle global challenges such as climate change, food security and conflict.”
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.