Global gender gap could take 134 years to close — but 2024 elections offer hope, WEF says

The 2024 bumper election year presents a unique opportunity to make progress in closing the global gender gap, according to the World Economic Forum.

In a new report published Wednesday, WEF said that while worldwide gender inequality had narrowed marginally over the past year, it had done so at a slower pace than before. It is now estimated to take 134 years — or five generations — to close the global gender gap, up from 131 years in 2023, WEF said.

This year’s sweeping election cycle could narrow that gap, however, by boosting women’s representation in the political sphere, the non-governmental organisation said.

“We cannot wait until 2158 for parity: the time for decisive action is now,” Saadia Zahidi, managing director at WEF, said.

WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report, now in its 18th year, is an annual index designed to measure gender equality. It benchmarks gender-based gaps in four areas: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.

Political participation was identified as an area of stark imbalance, despite modest gains at the federal and local level. But with around half of the world’s population eligible to vote in scores of elections this year, it is also considered an area of significant potential.

“With over 60 national elections in 2024 and the largest global population in history set to vote, women’s political representation and the overall gender gap could be set to improve,” the report said.

That could happen both at the top level, with more leadership positions for women, as well as via policies designed to support and empower women.

Last week, Mexico voted in its first female president Claudia Sheinbaum, whose campaign included pledges to reduce violence toward women. It came a day after Iceland elected Halla Tomasdottir as president following a business career, which included improving female representation in financial services.

Europe remains ahead on gender equality

The global gender gap now stands at 68.5 per cent, a 0.1 percentage point improvement on last year, primarily due to modest gains in economic participation and opportunity.

“Despite some bright spots, the slow and incremental gains highlighted in this year’s Global Gender Gap Report underscore the urgent need for a renewed global commitment to achieving gender parity, particularly in economic and political spheres,” Zahidi said.

Iceland ranked as the most gender-equal country in the world for the 15th consecutive year and the only country to have closed 93.5 per cent of its gender gap.

It was followed in the top 10 by Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Nicaragua, Germany, Namibia, Ireland and Spain. While no country has yet achieved full gender parity, the top ten ranking countries have closed at least 80 per cent of their gap.

Europe continues to lead on a regional level, with a gender parity score of 75 per cent, slightly ahead of North America, where 74.8 per cent of the gap is closed.

Latin America, ranking in third place with a score of 74.2 per cent, has seen the greatest improvement of any region since the inception of the index.

Eastern Asia and Pacific, meanwhile, has a score of 69.2 per cent, slightly ahead of Central Asia’s 69.1 per cent, Sub-Saharan Africa’s 68.4 per cent, and Southern Asia’s 63.7 per cent. The Middle East and North Africa ranked bottom with 61.7 per cent.

CNBC