Dhaka, May 18 (BDNEWS) – Bangladesh has made commendable success in the world in reducing inequality between men and women, according to a study of World Economic Forum (WEF) identifying gender gap in 58 countries.
Entitled "Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap", it showed that Europe's Nordic countries have been the most successful in the world in reducing inequality between men and women.
The study, the first overarching attempt to quantify the gender gap by assessing the economic and political participation of women as well as their levels of education and health, listed the world's top five as Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland.
Bangladesh ranked 39th in the study while mainly the Muslim nations round out the bottom of the list. The report noted "traditional, deeply conservative attitudes regarding the role of women have made their integration into the world of public decision-making very difficult".
The report measured the size of the gap between women and men in five critical areas based on UNIFEM's (United Nations Development Fund for Women) findings of global patterns of inequality between men and women and data from UN, World Bank and WEF to assess the gender gap.
The critical five areas are: economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment and health and well-being.
It analysed equal remuneration for equal work, access to the labour market that is not restricted to low-paid, unskilled jobs, representation of women in decision-making structures, access to education and access to reproductive healthcare.
In Asia, large, populous nations such as India ranked at 53, Pakistan at 56, Turkey at 57 and Egypt at 58 – all behind Bangladesh.
European Union states occupied 10 of the top 15 spots on the list, along with non-EU members Norway and Iceland, and were joined by New Zealand at number six, Canada at seven and Australia at 10.
Britain ranked eighth, and the United States was 17th on the list, which evaluated the 30 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development plus 28 "emerging markets".
Egypt led nations where women fared the worst, followed by Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan and South Korea.
WEF economist Augusto Lopez-Claros said the Nordic countries, with their comprehensive welfare systems and transparent governance, served as a "useful benchmark" for gauging the economic importance of equality between the sexes.
"It is not surprising that the Nordic countries also occupy privileged positions in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness rankings," he said in a statement, referring to the WEF's flagship annual economic study.
"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."
The United States, for example, fared poorly compared to European counterparts because, despite high education levels for women, it scored badly on health and well-being - in particular due to a high death rate for mothers in childbirth and the paucity of maternity-leave and childcare benefits.
Its poor rank of 46th on economic opportunity also "appears to corroborate the much-discussed 'glass ceiling'," the report said.
Japan ranked 38th overall, despite its number-three standing for women's health, because of serious inequalities in political and economic spheres. China, at number 33, beat it as the highest-ranked Asian country.
It noted improvements in women's education in the Middle East and North Africa but added that "it is clear from the low ranks of these countries... that the region is not benefiting from the potential returns on this investment."
Western countries "notorious for their patriarchal cultures" also performed poorly, it said, citing Italy at number 45 and Greece at number 50 -- by far the worst performers in Europe.
Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair who is also a human rights lawyer, said at the London launch of the report that she was "absolutely, unequivocally in favor or quotas in political empowerment terms... because politics is about representation".
Blair said she did not favor affirmative action policies to help women with economic or academic advancement, however.
BDNEWS/1829 hrs
