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The gender gap persists globally |
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The Hindu -- Saturday June 11 2005
The gender gap persists globally
The Gender Gap study released by the World Economic Forum, while
highlighting the areas in which less developed countries lag behind in
gender equality, also indicates the huge gaps between men and women in
the developed economies. According to the study, released recently, no
country has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap, although the
Nordic countries with a long tradition of social democracy and welfare
systems have significantly narrowed the gap. Sweden, Norway, Iceland,
Denmark, and Finland occupy the top five spots among the 58 countries
covered by the study; they included all 30 Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development countries and 28 from the "emerging market"
world. The United States, ranked 17, trails East European countries
from the former socialist bloc, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. While
ranking fairly high (8) in educational attainment, it is way behind on
economic opportunity (46) and health and well-being (42). According to
the WEF study, U.S. fared poorly on account of meagre maternity leave,
lack of maternity benefits, and limited government-provided childcare.
The low score in economic opportunity tallies with the image of the
"glass ceiling."
Not surprisingly, welfare states with robust government social safety
nets fare better than the rest. While the Nordic welfare states score
high in educational attainment, political empowerment, and economic
opportunities, they do not perform as well in economic participation of
women. The former socialist countries, in contrast, score in economic
participation, opportunity, and education, but fail in the area of
health. Apparently, while women in the developed countries "opt out" of
work, those in less economically developed East European countries are
doubly burdened: in addition to their paid work, they take on an
overwhelming share of the chores at home. Thailand, which ranks 44
overall, is right at the top when it comes to economic participation of
women; this could, in part, be an index of exploitation. Among Asian
countries, China ranks highest (33), followed by Japan (38). India, at
53, is virtually at the bottom of the ladder, scoring, however, way
above its league in political empowerment (24). In health and well
being, the country is ranked 34; in economic opportunity 35; in
economic participation 54; and in educational attainment a shocking 57.
Only Pakistan, Korea, Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt fare worse overall.
Evidently, the high school dropout rates among girl children and wage
inequality are key factors in India's abysmal ranking. Clearly, in the
era of globalisation, the lesson for India and the other poorly ranked
countries is that they should strengthen and enhance the governmental
support systems not dismantle them in the name of market efficiency.
One thing is clear: as economic inequality increases within a country,
so does the gap between male and female.
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