It "assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities," the Report says.[2] "By providing a comprehensible framework for assessing and comparing global gender gaps and by revealing those countries that are role models in dividing these resources equitably between women and men, the Report serves as a catalyst for greater awareness as well as greater exchange between policymakers."[2]
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2023, it will take exactly 131 years for the gender gap to close.[3][4]
Methodology
The report's Gender Gap Index ranks countries according to calculated gender gap between women and men in four key areas: health, education, economy and politics to gauge the state of gender equality in a country.
The report examines four overall areas of inequality between men and women in 146 economies around the globe, over 93% of the world's population:
Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio. In this case parity is not assumed, there are assumed to be fewer female births than male (944 female for every 1,000 males), and men are assumed to die younger. Provided that women live at least six percent longer than men, parity is assumed. But if it is less than six percent it counts as a gender gap.[5]
This is the upper limiting value of the Gender Gap Index (limes superior) for the female-to-male ratio and for the male-to-female ratio.
WEF Global Gender Gap Index rankings
Global Gender Gap Report 2020
The highest possible score is 1.0 (equality or better for women, except for lifespan (106% or better for women) and gender parity at birth (94.4% or better for women[11]) and the lowest possible score is 0. Data for some countries are unavailable.[12][13][14] The three highest-ranking countries have closed over 84% of their gender gaps, while the lowest-ranking country has closed only a little over 50% of its gender gap.
The index is designed to "measure gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities in countries rather than the actual level of the available resources and opportunities in those countries."[16]
In an academic publication from 2010, Beneria and Permanyer criticized the Global Gender Gap Index for only capturing inequality in certain aspects of women's lives therefore making it an incomplete measure of gender inequality.[19]
In an academic publication from 2019, Stoet and Geary argued that the Global Gender Gap Index has limitations as a measure of gender equality, because of the way it caps scores and because it ignores specific issues on which men are known to fall behind (e.g., risks of working in hazardous jobs).[20] According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, the index do not penalize a country where women outperform men in certain aspect and consider that parity is achieved in life expectancy only if women live five years longer than men.[18]
1 2 3 4 The Global Gender Gap Report 2018 (GGGR), p. 5, Construction of the Index, § 2. Data truncation at equality benchmark: As a second step, these ratios are truncated at the "equality benchmark”. For all indicators, except the two health indicators, this equality benchmark is considered to be 1, meaning equal numbers of women and men. GGGR 2018, p. 42, Country Score Card: … To calculate the Index, all ratios were truncated at the parity benchmark of 1 and thus the highest score possible is 1.
1 2 3 4 GGGR 2018, p. 6; Table 2: Calculation of weights within each subin-dex
↑ GGGR 2018, p. 5, Construction of the Index, § 2. Data truncation at equality benchmark: … In the case of sex ratio at birth, the equality benchmark is set at 0.944, GGGR 2018, p. 42, Country Score Card: … except for the sex ratio at birth (0.944)
↑ GGGR 2018, p. 5, Construction of the Index, § 2. Data trun-cation at equality benchmark: … the case of healthy life expectancy the equality benchmark is set at 1.06. GGGR 2018, p. 42, Country Score Card: … and the healthy life expectancy (1.06) indicators.
↑ Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2012). The Global Gender Gap Report 2012(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Yasmina Bekhouche; Saadia Zahidi (2014). The Global Gender Gap Index 2014(PDF). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2013). The Global Gender Gap Report 2013(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2012). The Global Gender Gap Report 2012(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2010). The Global Gender Gap Report 2010(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2009). The Global Gender Gap Report 2009(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2008). The Global Gender Gap Report 2008(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2007). The Global Gender Gap Report 2007(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
Ricardo Hausmann; Laura D. Tyson; Saadia Zahidi, eds. (2006). The Global Gender Gap Report 2006(PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
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