Global progress toward gender equity is stalling
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The World Economic Forum last week released a report showing that global progress toward gender parity has largely stalled. The WEF report and other analyses suggest that the pandemic threw obstacles in the path toward gender parity, though the effects vary significantly by country.
The “Global Gender Gap Report” measures progress toward gender parity in 146 countries. It began with 102 countries in 2006. The 2022 report finds that the world today has closed the overall gender gap by 68.1 percent. At this rate, it will take the world 132 years to reach gender parity.
The WEF Global Gender Gap Index includes four subindices. Today, the global gender gap in health and survival has closed by 95.8 percent, educational attainment by 94.4 percent, economic participation and opportunity by 60.3 percent and political empowerment by 22 percent, according to the report.
North America scores the highest among regions, closing its gap by 76.9 percent, with Europe close behind at 76.6 percent. Latin America and the Caribbean rank third, at 72.6 percent. Central Asia (69.1 percent) and East Asia and the Pacific (69 percent) lie in the middle, followed by sub-Saharan Africa at 67.9 percent. The Middle East and North Africa rank further down, closing 63.4 percent of the gender gap. South Asia ranks last, at 62.4 percent, suggesting a depressing 197 years to reach parity in the region.
Within regions, progress varies significantly among countries. Iceland ranks first in the world, as the only country to have closed more than 90 percent of its gender gap (90.8 percent). Germany is 10th at 80.1 percent and the US comes 27th at 76.9 percent. The UAE ranks 68th at 71.6 percent, while India holds 135th spot at 62.9 percent. Afghanistan ranks last at 43.5 percent — a decline from last year.
In terms of the countries that have made the most progress toward closing their gender gaps in the last year, Vanuatu ranked first, Kenya second and Saudi Arabia third, with the Kingdom closing its gap by 3.3 percentage points to 63.6. At the other end of the spectrum lie Algeria, Malawi and Benin, which all experienced significant declines in parity.
The WEF index showed slight improvement from last year: 68.1 percent of the gap was closed in 2022 versus 67.9 percent in 2021. However, the report notes that the last year’s progress does not make up for the losses in 2020 and 2021.
Wars, climate change and other crises often have a disproportionately negative impact on women and children.
Kerry Boyd Anderson
Indeed, other reports have demonstrated that the pandemic was a major setback for women around the world. A Deloitte report from earlier this year warned that the pandemic had “reversed key gains over the years in expanding the rights of women worldwide.” Earlier in the pandemic, the UN warned that impacts of COVID-19 threatened to undo decades of progress.
At the height of pandemic restrictions, women’s employment declined more than men’s, as restrictions hit the service sectors that dominate women’s employment and closed schools and childcare facilities. Such impacts are particularly difficult for women, who often work in sectors — or in the informal economy — that lack benefits and protections. Women are also society’s primary caregivers and the pandemic massively increased demands for care.
Furthermore, multiple reports have found that domestic violence increased significantly during the pandemic and a UN report from late 2021 also noted that many women feel less safe outside of their homes than before the pandemic. Additionally, UN agencies have sounded the alarm about the importance of returning girls to school following lengthy, pandemic-related school closures.
The pandemic clearly undermined progress toward gender parity and even women’s basic rights. However, even without the pandemic, progress tends to be uneven. For example, the WEF report also noted that the years of austerity following the 2008 financial crisis undermined some forms of progress in many countries. Wars, climate change and other crises often have a disproportionately negative impact on women and children.
Still, there are some reasons for optimism. The WEF report found that progress toward closing the gender gap has improved by 3.8 percentage points globally since 2006. More countries have made significant or marginal improvements in the last year than those that experienced declines. Progress is slow and goes through setbacks, but it is better than regression.
Gender parity and women’s rights matter to broader society. When women suffer violence, economic difficulties, health concerns and more, the men and especially the children in their families and communities suffer too. Economies lose potential when women are unable to fully contribute. Excluding women from government decision-making leads to policies that fail to account for the realities of women’s and families’ experiences. Businesses that lack women in leadership will miss out on the potential skills and ideas of half the population and will be disconnected from the experiences of many potential customers, investors, clients and employees.
In the wake of the pandemic, governments, businesses and social institutions need to work harder to advocate for women and to implement policies that address women’s real-world needs. Safety is a critical starting point; without safety inside and outside of the home, women cannot achieve progress in areas as basic as education, health and employment. Governments and other societal leaders need to address the increased risks to women’s safety that arose during the pandemic and then continue working toward improving gender parity.
• Kerry Boyd Anderson is a writer and political risk consultant with more than 18 years of experience as a professional analyst of international security issues and Middle East political and business risk. Her previous positions include deputy director for advisory with Oxford Analytica. Twitter: @KBAresearch
