Nordic Countries Lead In Gender Equality

One of the biggest battles of the twentieth century was fought over gender equality.   And that battles continues now in the twenty-first century.   There are still far too many places in the world where women still have virtually no rights at all.   Much progress has been made in the developed countries, but true equality has yet to be achieved (especially in areas like equal pay for equal work).

In an effort to foster more world-wide gender equality, the World Economic Forum (WEF) issues an annual Global Gender Gap Report.   This WEF report rates all countries on gender equality -- measuring each countries equality in politics, education, employment and health.   For the second year in a row, Iceland has earned the top position as the most gender-equal country in the world.

Some might think that as much as the United States talks about equality, they must be among the leaders in gender equality.   Not so.   In fact, the United States did not even make it into the top 15 countries.   In 2009, the United States stood in 31st place.   They did improve that this year to finish in 19th place -- largely on the basis of the large number of women in the Obama administration and some closing of the pay gap between men and women.

Here is the ranking of the top 31 countries, along with the score they earned in 2010 (the score is the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed):

1. Iceland (84.96%)
2. Norway (84.04%)
3. Finland (82.60%)
4. Sweden (80.24%)
5. New Zealand (78.08%)
6. Ireland (77.73%)
7. Denmark (77.19%)
8. Lesotho (76.78%)
9. Philippines (76.54%)
10. Switzerland (75.62%)

11. Spain (75.54%)
12. South Africa (75.35%)
13. Germany (75.30%)
14. Belgium (75.09%)
15. United Kingdom (74.60%)
16. Sri Lanka (74.58%)
17. Netherlands (74.44%)
18. Latvia (74.29%)
19. United States (74.11%)
20. Canada (73.72%)

21. Trinidad and Tobago (73.53%)
22. Mozambique (73.29%)
23. Australia (72.71%)
24. Cuba (72.53%)
25. Namibia (72.38%)
26. Luxembourg (72.31%)
27. Mongolia (71.94%)
28. Costa Rica (71.94%)
29. Argentina (71.87%)
30. Nicaragua (71.76%)
31. Barbados (71.76%)

And the ranking of some other countries of interest:

32. Portugal (71.71%)
37. Austria (70.91%)
45. Russian Federation (70.36%)
46. France (70.25%)
52. Israel (69.57%)
58. Greece (69.08%)
61. China (68.81%)
74. Italy (67.65%)
91. Mexico (65.77%)
94. Japan (65.24%)
112. India (61.55%)

And here are the bottom 15 countries with the world's worst gender equality:

120. Jordan (60.48%)
121. Ethiopia (60.19%)
122. Oman (59.50%)
123. Iran (59.33%)
124. Syria (59.26%)
125. Egypt (58.99%)
126. Turkey (58.76%)
127. Morocco (57.67%)
128. Benin (57.19%)
129. Saudi Arabia (57.13%)
130. Cote d'Ivoire (56.91%)
131. Mali (56.80%)
132. Pakistan (54.65%)
133. Chad (53.30%)
134. Yemen (46.03%)

The entire list of 134 countries can be viewed here.

Gender Equality - We Could Do Better

The World Economic Forum has released its 2008 report on gender equality in 130 nations around the world. What country leads the world in gender equality? Well, it's certainly not the United States. The U.S. clings to 27th place -- far behind such countries as Lesotho, Sri Lanka, and Mozambique. Doesn't that make you proud?

Frankly, we should be number one, but we're not. We hold ourselves up to the world as a shining beacon of freedon and equality, but the truth is that other countries actually do a better job when it comes to gender equality. Currently, the most gender equal country in the world is Norway, and it is closely followed by several other Nordic countries.

In compiling the statistics, the report considers economic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health & survival. Norway attained a rating of .8239. The last place country was Yemen with a .4664 rating. Totally equal gender equality would be 1.000.

The World Economic Forum believes there is a relationship between gender equality and a country's economic performance. They say, "Our work shows a strong correlation between competitiveness and the gender gap scores. While this does not imply causality, the possible theoretical underpinnings of this link are clear: countries that do not fully capitalize effectively on one-half of their human resources run the risk of undermining their competitive potential".

That makes a lot of sense. How can a country reach its full potential by denying equality to at least half of its citizens. That changes the argument for equality a bit. Gender equality would not just be good for the women of a country -- it would be good for everyone in that country because it would make the country more economically powerful and competitive.

Here are the top fifteen and some other interesting rankings. For a full list of the ranking, go to the WEF's full 2008 rankings.

01. Norway.....8239
02. Finland.....8195
03. Sweden.....8139
04. Iceland.....7999
05. New Zealand.....7859
06. Philippines.....7568
07. Denmark.....7538
08. Ireland.....7518
09. Netherlands.....7399
10. Latvia.....7397
11. Germany.....7394
12. Sri Lanka.....7391
13. United Kingdom.....7366
14. Switzerland.....7360
15. France.....7341
17. Spain.....7281
21. Australia.....7241
22. South Africa.....7232
25. Cuba.....7195
27. United States.....7179
31. Canada.....7136
42. Russia.....6994
56. Israel.....6900
57. China.....6878
67. Italy.....6788
97. Mexico.....6441
98. Japan.....6434
113. India.....6060
116. Iran.....6021
124. Egypt.....5832
127. Pakistan.....5549
128. Saudi Arabia.....5537
130. Yemen.....4664