Sexes equal in education, women lack power: study
| Women still lag farbehind men in top political and decision-making roles, a waste oftalent given that their access to education and healthcare is nearlyequal, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.
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Womenstill lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, awaste of talent given that their access to education and healthcare isnearly equal, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.
Inits 2008 Global Gender Gap report, the think tank ranked Norway,Finland and Sweden as the countries with the greatest equality betweenthe sexes, while Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen were the least equal.
Averaging130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reachednear-parity with their male peers in educational attainment, health andsurvival, in both rich and poor countries.
Buteconomically, in terms of workforce participation and earningopportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gapbetween the sexes remains large.
"Theworld's women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but arenowhere to be found in terms of decision-making," said Saadia Zahidi ofthe World Economic Forum, a Swiss-based think tank best known for itsDavos summit held in January.
"Giventhat women have almost closed the gap with men on health and education,it is a waste of their talents if they are not catching up in economicsand politics," she said.
Thereport uses United Nations and other data to weigh how evenly eachcountry shares its resources and opportunities between men and women.
Outsidethe Nordic region, which traditionally scores well on measures ofgender parity, New Zealand placed fifth, in part because of its femalepolitical empowerment including the tenure of Helen Clark as primeminister.
ThePhilippines, whose president is a woman, followed in sixth place, andIreland, the Netherlands, and Latvia placed eighth, ninth and tenthrespectively.
TheUnited States ranked 27th, ahead of its neighbor Canada for the firsttime since the gender gap report was launched three years ago. Canadafell 13 spots to 31st place.
Trinidad,Argentina and Cuba were rated highest among Latin American andCaribbean countries, and Lesotho was the top-rated African state ingender parity.
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