The gap between men and women has started to narrow as more women enter politics and join the work force on a global basis, but inequality still remains significant in both areas, according to an annual report from the World Economic Forum.
The ninth annual Global Gender Gap report shows the overall gap between men and women – based on economic, education and health factors in 142 countries included in the study – now stands at 60%, a modest improvement from 56% when the report was first completed in 2006.
Overall, Canada ranked 19th in the study this year, an improvement from 20th position last year and 21st the year earlier. Canada ranked 14th in the subgroup of "high-income" countries.
The biggest gaps on a global basis remain in areas that have also shown the most improvement over the past decade.
The WEF said more women than men have joined the workforce over the past decade in 29 countries, and there are now 26% more female parliamentarians on a global basis than nine years ago.
However, the proportions for women compared to men in the area of economic outcomes – which includes labour-force participation and wage equality – remains at 60% globally, and the category of political empowerment – which includes the ratio of women to men in parliaments and at the ministerial level – remains lowest at just 21%.
