(12 October 2017) – Countries need to do much more to close gender gaps worldwide, according to two reports from OECD and EIGE.
The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle presents a stark call to action, highlighting that very little progress has been made since the 2012 OECD report Closing the Gender Gap Now. In the latest survey carried out in 2012 on the pursuit of gender equality, OECD countries identified the three most important gender inequality issues: violence against women, the persisting large gender wage gap, and the unequal sharing of unpaid work.
Some progress has been made, the report notes. Most OECD countries are tackling workplace harassment through stronger laws and regulations. Nonetheless, gender gaps persist in all areas of social and economic life across countries, and the size of these gaps has often changed little in recent years. While today young women in OECD countries leave school with better qualifications than young men, they are less likely to study in the higher earning fields related to science, technology, engineering and manufacturing.
The Gender Equality Index 2017 published by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) shows the same trends: the EU’s score is just four points higher than ten years ago, now 66.2 out of 100. The top performing country is Sweden with a score of 82.6, while Greece moved to the bottom with 50 points. The award for the most improved country goes to Italy, which made a big leap and gained 12.9 points to place itself at rank 14 on the ladder.