The United States continues to lag behind other countries in closing the gender gap, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
by Global Gender Gap Report 2024The United States ranked 43rd out of 146 countries this year. The country’s gender equality score, which measures progress toward eliminating inequality between men and women, was 74.7 percent, little changed from last year.
Globally, the pace of change is also slowing, according to WEF Executive Director Sadia Zahidi: With no significant progress since last year, the WEF estimates it will take 134 years to achieve full gender parity — three years longer than the 2023 forecast.
“It may take five generations. [gender] Parity” Zahidi He told Yahoo Finance Catalysts (Video above.) “We need to accelerate our efforts to ensure that we actually unlock and leverage all of the human capital investments that have been made by businesses, by governments and across the country.”
Since its launch in 2006, the Index has tracked global progress towards closing gender gaps in four main categories: educational attainment, health, political empowerment and economic participation.
While no country has achieved full gender equality, most economies have made progress: A WEF report this year found that nearly all economies have closed at least 60% of their gender gaps, a level that few countries had reached about two decades ago.
Efforts in some areas have been more successful than others: for example, gender gaps in health and survival have been reduced by an average of 96 percent, and gaps in educational attainment have been reduced by 94.9 percent.
However, while the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity has been closed by 60.5%, the gap in political power has only progressed by 22.5%.
“We’re essentially wasting all that investment,” Zahidi said of the disparity between the categories.
Iceland tops the list, while the US is in 43rd place
As the only economy to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap over the past 15 years, Iceland ranks highest on the index. Eight other economies lag far behind, having each closed more than 80% of their gender gap.
Seven of the top ten spots in the world are held by European countries, while the remaining three spots are held by countries in East Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.
The United States ranked 43rd for the second consecutive year.
Despite achieving full gender parity in technical and professional occupations and a labor force participation rate of 84.2 percent, the overall gap in economic opportunity widened by 1.5 percentage points from last year. Moreover, the U.S. has “made little progress in closing the economic gender gap since 2006,” the report noted.
Zahidi attributes the US’s lower ranking compared to other economies to a leadership gap: despite progress in women’s political rights, a large gap remains between the number of women and men in political office in the US.
“India performs relatively well in terms of economic participation, but leadership gaps in both political and economic participation are weighing on its overall ranking,” Zahidi said.
“Competitive advantage”
The WEF report highlighted how gender equality can function as an economic lever.
a Moody’s Analytics 2023 Survey Closing the gender gap in workforce participation and management in OECD countries alone could add around $7 trillion to global economic activity each year, the study finds. The impact would be even greater if gender gaps were closed in large emerging economies such as India.
“Gender equality is a competitive advantage in an increasingly challenging macroeconomic and business environment,” the WEF report said.
Zahidi noted that improving care systems, increased female political participation and increased female involvement in STEM and technology fields are drivers of gender equality.
Zahidi noted that AI has the power to be a “game changer,” so having women in tech roles will enable them to be involved in the future economy, stressing that “having more diverse teams in these sectors is important.”
Given the risk of further setbacks, the WEF Global Gender Equality Sprintis a collaboration between governments, companies and international organizations to advance economic gender equality by 2030. The initiative has a particular focus on closing leadership and pay gaps, as well as transforming industries such as green energy and technology.
“Gender equality is within reach, but it requires determined leadership and committed resources,” the WEF said. “Reaching the resources needed to close the gap requires a fundamental mindset that recognizes gender equality as an engine of new quality growth.”
Click here for the latest economic news and indicators to help inform your investment decisions..
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance