Gender parity is still 134 years away according to report

Gender parity is still 134 years away according to report

Story by NADJA editors

Photo under creative license


It will take 134 years to achieve gender parity around the world according to the latest Global Gender Gap Report compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

This year’s report ranked 146 countries on their progress towards gender equality in four main areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational opportunities, health and political empowerment.

The index shows that no country has achieved full gender parity yet, however 97% of the economies studied have closed more than 60% of their gender gap, compared to 85% in 2006. This shows progress, albeit slow, in addressing gender disparities worldwide.

Iceland was once again top of the list, keeping its position as the most gender-equal country for more than a decade and a half. It is the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap. 

It is followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden and Nicaragua, with European countries occupying seven spots in the global top 10. Meanwhile the countries ranking in the bottom 10 are in the Middle East and the African continent. 

Iceland: Leading the way in gender equality 

Iceland is widely recognised as a global leader in women’s rights and gender parity. It was one of the first countries to grant women the right to vote in 1915; in the 1980 election Iceland made history by electing Vigdís Finnbogadóttir as the world’s first democratically elected female president. 

Besides the Soviet Union and Mexico, Iceland was one of the first nations to legalise clinical abortions. The country has also integrated ‘equality education’, into its school curriculum, which includes gender and sexual orientation studies to foster a culture of respect and equality from a young age. 

The introduction of a minimum 40% quota for women on the boards of companies with more than 50 employees, the Equal Pay Certification law and generous parental leave policies mean that in Iceland women’s rights are protected by law and also ingrained into societal norms.

However things aren’t perfect, as demonstrated by the October 2023 strike when approximately 100,000 people marched to protest the gender pay gap — women still earn between 14-18% less than men on average. Sexual harrassment and domestic violence are still key areas that require focus; a 2015 survey found that almost half the women working in Iceland’s service industry had experienced some form of sexual harassment. 

The worst performing countries in the Global Gender Gap Report

Sudan, Pakistan, Chad, Iran and Guinea came bottom of the index this year. Iran had the lowest level of parity in the workforce at 20.1%. It also ranked poorly for economic parity at 34.3%. 

Chad’s and Guinea’s low scores are largely attributed to the gender gap in literacy and education — in the case of Chad only 17.9% of individuals enrolling in secondary education are women. 

Pakistan has been consistently dropping down the list year-on-year, primarily due to setbacks in political empowerment — around ten million more men than women registered to vote in Pakistan’s general election earlier this year. Other contributors include high maternal mortality rates, inadequate reproductive health services, and the fact that around 25 million children, of which the majority are girls, are out of the education system.  

A number of countries with a poor record of human rights and gender equality are not covered in the 2024 index due to a lack of data. These are: Afghanistan, Malawi, Myanmar and the Russian Federation. 

Sudan: A brutal civil war decimating women’s rights 

This is the first time Sudan has been included in the Global Gender Gap Report, and it joins in the bottom position. Historically, Sudanese women have contended with deep-seated social, cultural and legal barriers. Women and girls face poverty, low levels of literacy and pronounced gender gaps in education and political representation. 

The ousting of president Omar al-Bashir in 2019 happened in a revolution that was largely led by women. This seemed to mark something of a turning point for women’s rights when the transitional government criminalised female genital mutilation. While this was hailed as a victory for women’s rights advocates this was short-lived, and the civil war, which began in April 2023, has considerably worsened women’s rights. 

As a result 70% of health facilities have either closed or are inoperable, there is very limited access to reproductive healthcare, and as extreme food insecurity tightens its grip over 17.7 million displaced people, families are turning to child marriages to survive financially. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) also estimates that more than 4 million women and girls are at risk of sexual violence, with rape routinely used as a weapon of war to subjugate and terrorise civilians.

How accurate is the Global Gender Gap Report? 

Like any report based on quantitative data, the WEF’s study has limitations and should be interpreted in conjunction with other information. The report relies on data from reputable sources such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNESCO, and WHO, which ensures that the data used is credible and internationally recognised, however these may not fully capture cultural and contextual differences that impact gender equality in different regions.

One point of criticism is that while the report claims to capture the gap between genders it focuses on outcomes that are simply unfavourable to women. “Issues disadvantaging more men than women have been understudied and are not heavily weighted,” one study noted, adding that there are issues that disproportionately affect boys and men that are not taken into account such as compulsory military service, the large majority of homeless people without shelter being men, and higher suicide rates. 

The index has also been criticised for only capturing inequality in certain aspects of women’s lives, therefore making it an incomplete measure of gender inequality. 

Additionally the report does not have complete data for all countries across all indicators, which can affect the accuracy of the rankings. 


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