21 Countries Have Smaller Gender Gap Than US

New Report Ranks United States Surprisingly Low When It Comes To Gender Equality

October 24, 2012 11:53 AM

By Chelsea Karnash

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The wage-gender gap. Abortion. “Binders full of women.” Women’s rights and gender equality issues have seen much—and heated—debate this election.

Now, new rankings by country on gender equality have been released, and the news for the United States isn’t good.

According to the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report, the U.S. ranks 22nd when it comes to gender equality, right behind Austria and Canada. Surprisingly, countries like Cuba (19), South Africa (16) and Nicaragua (9) received higher scores than America. Scandinavian countries like Finland (2), Norway (3) and Sweden (4) topped the list, and Iceland came in first place.

The report, which was released on Oct. 23 by the World Economic Forum, compared 135 countries that together make up more than 90% of the world’s population. Each nation’s score was based on more than 14 criteria centered on four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. A score of zero equaled total inequality, while a score of one signified total equality.

Read More At: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/10/24/new-report-ranks-united-states-surprisingly-low-when-it-comes-to-gender-equality/

The Global Gender Gap Index 2012

RICARDO HAUSMANN, Harvard University
LAURA D. TYSON, University of California, Berkeley
YASMINA BEKHOUCHE, World Economic Forum
SAADIA ZAHIDI, World Economic Forum

The Global Gender Gap Index, introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, is a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress. The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. The rankings are designed to create greater
awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. The methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings are intended to serve as a basis for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

The first part of Part 1 reviews the underlying concepts employed in creating the Global Gender Gap Index and outlines the methods used to calculate it. The second part presents the 2012 rankings, global patterns and regional performances and calls attention to notable
country cases. Next, we provide an overview of the links between gender gaps and the economic performance of countries. In the fourth part, we include information on the trends revealed by the Index in the six years that we have been producing it.

The Country Profiles contained in Part 2 of this Report give a more detailed picture of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each country’s performance compared with that of other nations. The first page of each profile contains detailed information on the country’s performance in 2012. The second page shows the trends between 2006 and 2012 on the overall Index and four Subindexes, as well as over 30 gender-related variables that reflect some of the legal and social factors that affect gender disparity in each country.

Read More and See The Data: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR12/MainChapter_GGGR12.pdf