Gender equality index: Canada edges up to 20th; still far off all-time high

An office worker checks email during a lunch break at work Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010 in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Worldwide, the gaps that exist between men and women in education, wages, political participation and other areas are narrowing in most countries, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.

The group's annual Global Gender Gap Report, published Friday, found “definite if not universal improvements” in equality between the sexes in 136 countries. In fact, of the 133 countries that were measured in both 2012 and 2013, 86 improved.

But while many countries are closing the gaps in terms of life expectancy and access to higher education, the presence of women in positions of economic leadership remains limited in both developing and developed countries alike, the report found.

Canada ranked far from the top of the annual ranking, but moved up one spot from the year before. Canada slipped in the area of wage equality, and is still well down from its best ranking of 14 back in 2006.

Yet Canada improved in areas of labour force participation, income, and gender equality among legislators, elected officials and managers.

Like several countries on the index, Canada has fully closed its education gender gap, the report found, but the country ranks ninth on economic participation and opportunity.

The United States, meanwhile, fell one spot on the index this year, to 23rd. That's due in large part to the fact that several other countries including China and France surged ahead of it on the rankings.

Once again, the four Nordic countries Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark dominate the Top 4 in all the measures of the Global Gender Gap Index.

At the bottom of the ranking are Chad (134th), Pakistan (135th) and Yemen (136th).

The Gender Gap Report, which has been ranking countries for eight years on their ability to close the gender gap, focuses on four key areas:

The Index is meant to be less about a country's wealth, and more about how equitably that country's income, resources and opportunities are distributed between women and men.

The four Nordic countries of Sweden, Iceland Finland and Denmark continue to hold the top positions in all the measures of the index, with Iceland assessed to have the narrowest gender gap in the world.

Although no country has yet achieved gender equality, the report authors say all the Nordic countries serve as models for international comparison.

They note that all Nordic countries reached 99-100 per cent literacy for both sexes several decades ago and that the genders are treated equally in primary and secondary levels of education.

Women also make up the majority of those in post-secondary education in these countries and the majority of the high-skilled workforce.

The report says women in the Nordic countries have plenty of opportunities to rise to positions of leadership, have some of the highest labour force participation rates for women, and salary gaps between the genders are among the lowest in the world.

"On the whole, these economies have made it possible for parents to combine work and family, resulting in high female employment, more shared participation in childcare, more equitable distribution of labour at home, better work-life balance for both women and men and in some cases a boost to declining fertility rates," the report says.

The policies that have allowed that to happen include:

"Together, these policies have also led to relatively higher and rising birth rates occurring simultaneously with high female workforce participation in the Nordic countries, compared to other OECD economies," the report says.

The report authors say they continue to notice there's a strong correlation between a country’s gender gap and its national competitiveness.

"The most important determinant of a country’s competitiveness is its human talent—the skills, education and productivity of its workforce—and women account for one-half of the potential talent base throughout the world," the authors write.

"Closing gender gaps is thus not only a matter of human rights and equity; it is also one of efficiency."