Israel ranked 83rd out of 146 countries surveyed in the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Gender Gap Report, slipping 23 places in just one year and marking a worrisome backslide in achieving gender parity.
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The Global Gender Gap Index serves as an annual benchmark to assess the current status and progress of gender parity in four important areas - economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. “It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time”, read the report, in which Israel was ranked 60th.
The 17th edition of the report was published this month, highlighting that no country in the world has achieved gender parity. However, there are nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) that have closed at least 80% of their gender gaps.
In a global context, the report's authors argue that “At the current rate of progress over the 2006-2023 span, it will take 162 years to close the Political Empowerment gender gap, 169 years for the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, and 16 years for the Educational Attainment gender gap. The time to close the Health and Survival gender gap remains undefined.”
According to the report, Middle Eastern and North African countries are the furthest from achieving gender parity. The United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain lead the region in terms of gender equality, but the situation is far from optimal.
In the Economic Participation and Opportunity index – which gauges labor force participation, wage equality, representation in legislatures and managerial positions - Israel was ranked 75th. The Jewish state ranked 109th in the Health and Survival Index, indicating that the health of many women is affected by their social status.
The most significant decline was recorded on Political Empowerment Index, which examines the number of women in the parliament, government positions and the number of years women and men have served as heads of government. In this parameter, Israel was ranked 96th, sliding all the way from 61st a year before.
Last month, Israel was ranked dead last in terms of gender equality among OECD countries on the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) report.