Nordic nations are still top of the list for equality, according to
World Economic Forum
Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor
Wednesday October 13 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/12/world-gender-gap-closing
The gender gap is narrowing across the globe, with large parts of the
world moving towards greater equality between the sexes in terms of
pay, education, health and political representation, according to a
report by the World Economic Forum.
Nordic nations, longtime champions of an equal society, topped the
list with Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden demonstrating "great
equality between men and women" in the forum's Global Gender Gap
Index.
Of the countries surveyed, 59% narrowed the gap in the past year.
Denmark, the Philippines, the UK and Sri Lanka stayed at the same
ranks as in 2009, keeping them in the top 20.
Although Iceland, rated the best nation for gender equality in the
world, has seen its economic wealth shattered by recession, the
government is committed to levelling society further and introduced
laws this year to force companies with more than 50 staff to ensure
their management is made up of at least 40% women by September 2013.
In Nordic nations, women live longer, have high employment rates and
often enjoy generous maternity and paternity schemes. There are more
than 1.5 women for every man enrolled in tertiary education.
Gender equality, claim the report's authors, boosts growth in both
rich and poor countries. The report warned that while gaps were
narrowing between men's and women's health and education, women were
still left out of the labour market ? including salaried and skilled
jobs.
Klaus Schwab, the chairman of the WEF, said: "Low gender gaps are
directly correlated with high economic competitiveness. Women and
girls must be treated equally if a country is to grow and prosper.
"We still need a true gender equality revolution, not only to mobilise
a major pool of talent both in terms of volume and quality, but also
to create a more compassionate value system within all our
institutions."
The developing world had some notable success stories. Lesotho, the
Philippines and South Africa were more equal than the UK, which was
15th in the global list. Lesotho, which rose two places to 8th, is the
only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have no gender gap in either
education or health.
The emerging economic giants in Asia had some way to go. China dropped
a place to 61st because of the prevalence of female foeticide -
aborting baby girls because of a cultural preference for boys. This
has been exacerbated by the country's one-child policy and the report
noted that China's sex ratio at birth fell this year from 0.91 to 0.88
girls for every boy.
India fares even worse at 112th with the report warning that
"persistent health, education and economic participation gaps will be
detrimental to (the country's) growth". The bottom three spots this
year went to Pakistan at 132nd, followed by Chad and Yemen at 134th.
The US rose to 19th, jumping 12 positions, in part because women now
occupy a third of the top jobs in president Barack Obama's
administration, compared to a quarter in the last government.
There was also a rise in income for American women to almost $35,000
(£22,000) from more than $25,000. While the UK performs well in
education and health, its male-to-female ratios in politics and the
workforce are low. In terms of wages the UK ranks 78th out of the 134
countries.
The poorest performer in the richer democracies appears to be France.
It ranks 46th, trailing much poorer nations such as Kazakhstan and
Jamaica, and has fallen 28 places since last year due largely to a
fall in the number of women in politics despite legislation that
requires equal numbers of both sexes on political parties' lists of
candidates. mandates that both sexes must be equally represented as
candidates on political party lists.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment