According to the World Economic Forum, at current pace, it will take 131 years to close the global gender gap.
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According to the World Economic Forum, it may now take 131 years to close the global gender gap after Covid-19 lost “an entire generation” of progress.
In a new report released Wednesday, the World Economic Forum said that despite improvements since the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, global gender inequality appears set to persist until 2154, when the time frame stretches to 135.6 years.
Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the World Economic Forum, said many of the factors that have held women back in recent years — including inadequate care infrastructure, disruption of the workforce by new technologies and stagnation in industries — are still prevalent.
“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 equality, and essentially progress has stalled.” forward.”
The WEF also found that while globally women have entered the labor force at a higher rate than men since 2022, market gaps continue to exist, with women facing a higher global unemployment rate (4.5%) than men (4.3%).
European countries lead the way in gender equality
The Global Gender Gap Report, now in its 17th year, measures gender-based gaps in four areas: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.
Iceland was named the most gender-equal country in the world for the 14th year in a row, and was the only country to close the gender gap by more than 90%.
Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia, Lithuania and Belgium follow in the top 10. While no country has yet achieved full gender parity, the top nine countries have closed the gap by at least 80%.
At a regional level, Europe has the highest gender parity rate at 76.3%, surpassing North America, which narrowed the gap by 75%.Zahidi said this is partly due to the fact that Europe offers more care infrastructure than the US
“Many European economies have taken steps to allow parents to balance work and family, whether those parents are mothers or fathers. In the United States, this is much less the case. The care economy provides more commercial services, but this is not necessarily satisfied All needs,” Zahidi said.
Elsewhere, in Latin America and the Caribbean it was 74.3 percent, while in Eurasia and Central Asia it was 69 percent. Levels remained low 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%).
economics and politics
Global gender parity has improved by only 4.1 percentage points since the report’s first edition in 2006, and the pace of change is slowing over time.
At current rates, it would take 169 years to achieve economic equality and 162 years to achieve political equality, the report found.
“The economic inclusion factor is where it is most stagnant, partly because of care and partly because of technology,” Zahidi said.
“But progress has also been very modest in terms of political leadership, which is essentially a leadership hurdle that we continue to see across the board,” she added.
Since the release of the first edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report in 2006, gender parity has increased by only 4.1 percentage points, a marked slowdown in the overall pace of change.
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Faster progress in both areas is critical to addressing wider gender disparities in households, society and the economy, Zahidi said, outlining a three-pronged approach for government and business action.
“One, the government must invest in nursing infrastructure. Two, both government and business must focus on women’s STEM education, STEM skills, and STEM careers,” she said, referring to the acronym Science, Technology, and Engineering. and math.
“Thirdly, all businesses, all employers must think about creating more gender-equal recruitment, retention and promotion,” she said. “Here are three things that can accelerate equality within our lifetimes.”