According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate, it will take 131 years to close the global gender gap.
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According to the World Economic Forum, it could take 131 years to close the global gender gap after “an entire generation” of progress is lost to Covid-19.
In a new report released Wednesday, the WEF said gender inequality around the world looks set to last until 2154 despite modest improvement since the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, when the time is extended to 2014. 135.6 years.
Saadia Zahidi, executive director of the WEF, said many factors have pushed women back in recent years – including inadequate care infrastructure, workforce disruptions due to new technology and stagnation in the fields – still common.
“We’re starting to see things get back on track a little bit,” Zahidi told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche. “But that means we’ve still lost a whole generation on the road to gender and physical equality. version, progress has stalled”.
The WEF also found that although women have entered the workforce at a higher rate than men globally since 2022, the market gap continues to persist, with women facing higher rates of labor force participation than men. The global unemployment rate (4.5%) is higher than that of men (4.3%).
European countries lead in gender equality
The Global Gender Gap Report, now in its 17th year, assesses the gender gap in four areas: economic participation and opportunity; academic level; health and survival; and political empowerment.
Iceland ranks as the world’s most gender-equal country for the 14th year in a row and is the only country to have closed more than 90% of the gender gap.
Next in the top 10 are Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia, Lithuania and Belgium. While no country has yet achieved full gender parity, the top nine ranked countries have closed at least 80% of their gap.
At the regional level, Europe has the highest rate of gender parity at 76.3%, surpassing North America, which closes the 75% gap. Zahidi says this is in part due to more care infrastructure being provided across Europe than in the US.
“Many European economies have introduced measures that allow parents to balance work and family, whether that parent is a parent. In the United States, it’s much less. There are many provisions. more commercial for the care economy, but that’s not necessarily the case,” said Zahidi.
Elsewhere, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the rate was 74.3%, while in Eurasia and Central Asia it was 69%. Lower levels remained in East Asia and the Pacific (68.8%), Sub-Saharan Africa (68.2%), South Asia (63.4%), and the Middle East and North Africa (62.6%). .
economic and political
Global gender equality has only increased by 4.1 percentage points since the report’s first publication in 2006, with the rate of change slowing over time.
According to the report, at the current rate, it will take 169 years to reach economic equilibrium and 162 years to reach political equilibrium.
“The economic inclusion factor is where the biggest stagnation is, partly due to interest, partly due to technology,” said Zahidi.
“But when it comes to political leadership, progress has also been very slight, and that is essentially a barrier to leadership that we continue to see across a variety of sectors,” she added.
Equality has increased by only 4.1 percentage points since the first edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report in 2006, with the overall rate of change slowing significantly.
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Faster progress in both areas is crucial to addressing the wider gender gap in households, society and the economy, said Zahidi, and outlined a three-pronged approach to address the wider gender gap. government and business take action.
“First, the government must invest in care infrastructure. Second, both government and business must focus on STEM education, STEM skills, and STEM careers for women,” she said, referring to women. Refers to an acronym for the field of science, technology, engineering, and math.
“Third, all businesses, all employers must consider creating more opportunities to recruit, retain and advance gender equality,” she said. “Those are three things that can accelerate equality in our lifetime.”
