In the nine years that the World Economic Forum has been measuring the gender gap worldwide, there was only a minor shift toward gender equality. This analysis is based on a study by the World Economic Forum entitled Global Gender Gap Report 2014 which compared the status of men and women in 142 countries, including the Czech Republic. While in 2006 the rate of equality between men and women in terms of representation and economic opportunities reached 56%, today it is 60%. If progress continues at the same pace, full gender equality will be reached 81 years from now.
Specifically, the study measured gender differences in four basic areas since 2006:
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Economic participation and opportunities (salary, participation in sectors requiring high professional qualifications)
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Education (access to education from primary to tertiary)
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Political empowerment (representation in decision-making structures)
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Health and survival (life expectancy, proportion of men and women in the population)
The gender gap is narrowest in the field of health and survival, standing at 96%. Thirty-five countries have already reached full equality in this area. The gap in education stands at 94%, 100% in 25 countries. The worst situation is in the area of political empowerment where the gender gap stands at 21%.
No country has yet achieved one hundred percent gender equality in all four areas being measured. The greatest equality between men and women remains in the Scandinavian countries. Iceland is number one (six years in a row), followed by Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Nicaragua jumped from tenth place last year to sixth place in 2014. Seventh place goes to Rwanda, a country which entered the index for the first time. The last three countries in the top ten are Ireland, the Philippines and Belgium. The biggest gender inequality remains in Chad, Pakistan and Yemen. The Czech Republic was ranked 96th. In 2006, it was in 53rd place, in 2012 73rd place, and in 2014 it was in 83rd place.
Regarding economic participation and opportunities for both sexes, the Czech Republic ranks 100th (95th place last year). It ranked 37th in the issue of health and life expectancy (46th last year) and in 107th place in the issue of political empowerment (79th last year). However, we are in first place in terms of access to education for both sexes. Along with the USA, Australia, UK, France, Norway and Slovakia, we have managed to completely eliminate gender differences in the area of education. Only 25 countries have reached gender equality in this area so far.
The full report, including separate results of individual countries is available for download on the World Economic Forum website.
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