Monday, October 28, 2013

Iceland tops in Global Gender Gap Report

A new report titled 'Global Gender Gap Report' released by the World Economic Forum indicated that the gap between men and women has narrowed slightly in the past year in most countries.
Iceland, Finland and Norway top the list of 136 nations, based on political participation, economic equality and rights like education and health. Iceland's position at the top of the WEF rankings was the fifth year in a row the country has been named the world's most equal.

Nicaragua in 10th place was the highest positioned country in North and South America. Cuba followed at 15th, with Ecuador in 25th place.

Among major world economies Germany ranked 14th (down one), the UK held its position at 18, with Canada at 20 and the United States 23rd.

The highest-ranked Asian nation was the Philippines (fifth), praised for its success in health, education and economic participation. On the other, Asia's major economies performed poorly, with China in 69th place and Japan 105th. India is at 101th position; however, the country was way ahead at the ninth position in 2013 in terms of women empowerment in politics.

In Africa, several countries -- Lesotho, South Africa, Burundi and Mozambique -- featured in the top 30 this year due to women’s participation in the workforce.

The Middle East and North Africa were the only regions not to improve in the past year. The United Arab Emirates in 109th place is the highest-ranked Arab country in the region, which achieved parity in education. Bahrain ranked 112th and Qatar at 115th, “still failing to adequately capitalize on the investments in education through greater economic and political contributions from women”.

The bottom of the list is occupied by Chad at 134th, Pakistan at 135th and Yemen 136th.

Iceland, Finland (second), Norway (third) and Sweden (fourth) had all closed over 80% of the gender gap, where 100% would represent full equality.

Top Ten Countries
 
2013
2012
Iceland
1
1
Finland
2
2
Norway
3
3
Sweden
4
4
Philippines
5
8
Ireland
6
5
New Zealand
7
6
Denmark
8
7
Switzerland
9
10
Nicaragua
10
9

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