Significant progress in closing gender gaps in education and political empowerment mean that Iceland, Finland and Norway take the top spots in this year’s ‘Global Gender Gap Report’, a study on worldwide gender parity published by The World Economic Forum (WEF).
The report, now in its seventh year, collects data from 135 different countries and examines the division of opportunity and resources between male and female populations. Countries are ranked on their ability to successfully tackle disparity in four key areas; economic participation and opportunity, education, political empowerment and health and survival.
Yemen is the lowest ranking country with considerable gaps in health and education but the data indicates that, globally, 96 percent of health gaps and 93 percent of education gaps have been closed.
Many of the world’s most successful economies rank at the top of the scale and Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the WEF, believes that talent will outweigh all other considerations in future economic development, “to develop the gender dimension is not just a question of equality, it is the entry card to succeed and prosper in an ever more competitive world”.
