Progress for Women
According to the recently released Global Gender Gap Report 2011 from the World Economic Forum, women have made significant progress around the world but still have a long way to go before achieving full parity with men. You may have noticed some high-profile women in politics in the news lately. Both Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, and Hillary Rodham Clinton have been featured in many articles on world politics and economics recently. But in reality, the report finds that women fall far behind men, especially in the areas of economics and politics. On a worldwide basis, women hold less than 20 percent of national level positions involved in decision making. This not only means women do not have a clear voice in economic and political decisions, it also means that the world is missing out on the expertise that vast numbers of women have to offer. Over the six years since the survey was instituted, women have made very little progress in these two important areas.
Here we are in the second decade of the 21st century, and while there are some bright spots, there is still too little progress. While the report found some progress in the sectors of women’s education and health, other areas are lagging far behind. Although succession to the royal throne of England no longer exclusively goes to men first, it is evident that even in developed countries like the United States, it remains a struggle for a woman to take top positions in politics and economics. Women are still a relative rarity in top positions in the business world, especially in technological and financial areas. Conference attendees were focused on current laws and policies that promote these roles for women, but see a need for increased support for women and the enforcement of existing laws and policies to make them more effective. There seems to be a deep-rooted business culture in many countries of the world that does not actively seek promotion of qualified women, despite the fact that studies have shown that companies with more women in leadership positions outperform those who lack women in these positions.
The report reviews four areas of concern for women, education, politics, health and economics, ranking 135 countries around the world according to how they score in these areas. The top ten countries have remained the same for the past two years with Iceland, the Scandinavian countries, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Lesotho and Switzerland holding the top positions. Although the United States promotes women’s issues, it ranks at number 17 in the list, showing there is plenty of room for improvement. The World Bank recently released a similar study, citing gains in the areas of education and health but the same lack of progress in political and economic leadership around the world.
Two countries that many view as surprises high on the list are the Philippines and Cuba. Both countries have struggling economies but have achieved excellent results in women’s issues. Cuba was the only Caribbean or Latin American country in the top 20, as women there have attained a high level in all four areas being studied. On the other hand, many Asian, African and Arab countries have shown little to no progress in women’s issues.
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