Finland is fifth in first-ever Gender Gap study

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) released yesterday the first-ever study that attempts to quantify the size of the "gender gap" in 58 countries. The study ranks Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland at the top of the list, as the countries with the smallest gender gap.
      The report measures the size of the gap between women and men in five critical areas based on the UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) findings of global patterns of inequality between men and women.
     
The five critical areas are:
      - economic participation (equal remuneration for equal work);
      - economic opportunity (access to the labour market that is not restricted to low-paid, unskilled jobs);
      - political empowerment (representation of women in decision-making);
      - educational attainment (access to education), and
      - health and well-being (access to healthcare).
     
     
While no country has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap, the Nordic countries have succeeded best in narrowing it and, in a very clear sense, provide a workable model for the rest of the world, according to the WEF.
      "These societies seem to have understood the economic incentive behind empowering women: countries that do not fully capitalise on one half of their human resources are clearly undermining their competitive potential," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist of the World Economic Forum.
     
On average, a woman is currently paid only 78% of a man's salary for equal work worldwide.
      The World Economic Forum's rankings are based on a large number of various statistics as well as qualitative information from the Forum's own Executive Opinion Survey.


Links:
  The World Economic Forum: Gender Gap Study
  The World Economic Forum

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