This came out yesterday, but I don’t think I have seen any reference to it. It’s a new study by a think tank, so it should be treated with all the requisite care, but it IS making headlines, such as the one used for the title of this diary, in the Financial Times
The World Economic Forum is releasing today the first ever study that attempts to quantify the size of the “gender gap” in 58 countries.
Entitled Women’s Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap, the report measures the size of the gap between women and men in five critical areas based on UNIFEM’s (United Nations Development Fund for Women) findings of global patterns of inequality between men and women:
- economic participation – equal remuneration for equal work;
- economic opportunity – access to the labour market that is not restricted to low-paid, unskilled jobs;
- political empowerment – representation of women in decision-making structures;
- educational attainment – access to education;
- health and well-being – access to reproductive healthcare.
The United States (17) lags behind many Western European nations in addition to falling behind New Zealand (6), Canada (7) and Australia (10). It performs particularly well on educational attainment (8) and slightly less so on economic participation and political empowerment.
However, it ranks poorly on the specific dimensions of economic opportunity and health and well-being, compromised by meagre maternity leave, the lack of maternity leave benefits and limited government-provided childcare. Moreover, its health and well-being rank is brought down, in comparison with other developed nations, by the large number of adolescents bearing children, and by a relatively high maternal mortality ratio – especially given the high number of physicians available.
The specific rankings are never very relevant, but the general area where you are does have value (it’s not surprising to see Scandinavia near the top and Egypt near the bottom). I am most surprised by the rankings of Germany (too high?) and Switzerland (too low?) and would appreciate comments from local bootribers.
I’d say that a criteria about how easy it is for women to combine work and childcare is missing, but hey, what do I know?!
is that in our political climate, the very basis of the study is in debate. Government health care or day care is not uniformly considered an improvement over what we have now. There is no consensus that these things would imprrove the quality of life for women.
So studies like this are not taken seriously in the United States.
I think a lot of women might disagree with you 😉
Substitute “men” for “women” in that comment, and the study, and watch how fast it’s taken veeeeerrry seriously. Lots of grants forthcoming; talking heads, politicians will all pontificate on the importance.
One of the most discouraging aspects is not that women still make less money, per hour and per capita, than men. What’s truly disheartening is that the figure has improved only minimally in the last 20 years.
Oh isn’t that the truth. No offense guys, it’s not your fault. Until recently women’s health issues were never even discussed. Our health care system is one of the worst in the world. Oh we have the technology and all but look at the millions that will never have access to that health care for lack of insurance. Thus the infant mrtality rate in the good ol’ US of A.
You’re all welcome to come to Italy which ranked 45th overall–down there with Turkey and Egypt.
54th, I think, in equality of pay and 48th in participation….
“The grass is always greener…”
thanks but no thanks for the invite. I hear what you are saying but two wrongs don’t make a right..imho.
I didn’t say they did. But I think a lot of you could learn some valuable lessons about the alleged “horrors” of the US by having its situation, enviable in many many respects, put into a much broader internaltional perspective..
affluent women, it would cause a sudden and significant decrease in revenues for the medical treatment inudstry, and its parasitic twin, the insurance racket.
It would definitely improve the quality of life for poor women, who would be able to go to the doctor when they are sick.
I was surprised that Germany ranked so low on educational attainment; IIRC women currently make up one half of university students.
The low economic rankings are plausible though, as do the health and political empowerment rankings (the progressive parties have quotas for women, and all mainstream parties have been trying hard to open up for years).
Women still have a long way to go in Germany. An old friend was born into the American branch of a prosperous German family. About ten years ago she went with her family to the annual gathering in Germany, and she met a lot of overt discrimination. The family manages a trust fund, and her dad had to argue very strongly for her to be allowed into the investment meeting. Even though she was allowed to speak, she could not vote on any of the proposals.
they are still very far behind in the treatment of single mothers… very much looked down upon by society…
Social standing varies by region; single-parent households are more common in urban areas, and in the former GDR.
Unfortunately, bygone attitudes remain enshrined in educational and family policies that are still based on a two-parent, one wage-earner family. Mothers – single and otherwise – are often hindered in economic participation by the following:
These are major factors why Germany scores so low in the economic empowerment categories.
Somewhere this is a stat about American Pregnant Women being the most likely to be murdered.
To be honest I’m surprised USA ranked as “highly” as it did.
Thank you for this diary, Jerome.
Why are the Swiss surprising? They were among the last in the world to even grant women the right to vote, in federal elections in 1971, and in canton elections as recently as 1990 in some cases (I’m not sure that it is uniformly equal even now). Abortion wasn’t decriminalized in Switzerland until 2002.
Well, maybe abortion wasn’t decriminalized until 2002, but if a woman decided to get on, it was easy and it was never prosecuted. In the mean time we had a woman President, an things are improving. However, there is still a lot that needs to be done, but is there any country where women are 100% equal?. I find that those women who want to become active in Switzerland can, is it easy? No! But is it easy anywhere? It needs dedication, vision and endurance, and not only for women.
When my wife came home from work last night, we discussed the fact that Switzerland was only number 34 on the woman’s rights list (she’s Swiss)…she sighed & rolled her eyes…being a middle manager in a large Swiss corporation, she knows all too well the challenges of being a woman in an authority position here…
Does this mean she agrees with the #34 position. I do not feel it is more difficult for women here in Switzerland then it is in other countries. What I hear from some of my women friends in the US and other European countries, it is the same all over.
In terms of work…probably in many/most corporations…I think you are right about the challenge any woman faces. So…perhaps I didn’t entirely understand her feelings about it…and actually didn’t press it (she had a difficult day at work…didn’t want to press my luck). Anyway, let’s look at the Swiss numbers, maybe you have an idea as to why Switzerland ranked so low (which, by the way, really suprised me, as I see Switzerland as a great place to live…plus, the Swiss women I know are very strong, active and progressive):
Country Switzerland
Overall Rank 34
Overall Score* 3.97
Economic Participation 43
Economic Opportunity 42
Political Empowerment 17
Educational Attainment 49
Health and Well-being 7
Fran, what’s your thoughts on this? Is it related to what Jerome mentions in the post below?
Swiss, but of Spanish origins, grew up in Switzerland, studies in London, has recently had a baby. Upon going back to work, she has been facing subtle but unmistakable pressure to give up her work and take care of her kid instead of “abandoning” her to the nanny (or kindergarden, not sure which she uses). She was really surprised by it, and is quite depressed by it all.
And this is in Lausanne. That’s the kind of things I know happens in Germany (as discussed in comments above, the Kinder, Kuche, Kirche syndrome (kids, kitchen, church)), which is why I found the relative ratings of the two countries surprising.
have a friend who had a baby here in Switzerland, and once she wanted to go back to work, could not even get an interview (she had put in her cover letter that she was a mother)…it was only after she stopped mentioning her being a mother, that she got interviewed and hired. Later she told them…and they got mad at her…she thinks that it was a combination of “you should be home with the kids”, and a worry that she wouldn’t be entirely committed to work…
I thought that was pretty tough…why can’t a woman be a mom and a professional? In the US, it is employment discrimination if a potential employer asks you about family, age, sexual orientation, etc. When I tell people here about this, they are shocked…
You know I think this is just a cheap way of restructuring. The ‘Bund’? (forgot the English word) wants to let go of about 3000 people. The big Pharma companies where I live are continuesly restructuring, meaning basically letting go of people. It seems to be more difficult for women, but I also know of men who have problems finding new work, especially after 50. Both very short sighted in my opinion. But I must say, may opinion about most business people here is pretty low anyway. So I do not know about this being really a womans issue. I haven’t heard about it yet. Will be interesting if one of my clients who wants to go back to work, after the baby will find something. If it is true it would be pretty sleazy.
What amazes me, is the low level for educational attainment. I have heard, that women seem to out-number men at the universities more and more. And schools here, despite the problems, still seem to be okay.
Your story and Jérôme’s keep circling in my mind. I am going a little through my clients and students – and you know, I really think this is not only a women’s issue, the children thing is just one of many lousy excuses. I was just thinking of some young people women and men that I know of, who have trouble finding jobs. In my opinion this is just because of a wrong business philosophy. To increase shareholder values, everything is downsized (except for the CEO premium), meaning less people and the one’s who are ‘lucky’ enough have work, have to work for two, until the become sick. As I said before this goes for men and women. I sure hope this business philosophy will change. I do not understand why making a profit is bad if it is not bigger than the year before. Isn’t it important to just a make profit. But I guess here we come into more philosophical and human aspects – like greed and power. In general there seems to be a detoriation in the work climate. But again I wonder if this is only in Switzerland.
I know about that in the US you can not ask those questions. However, in the US you can let people go much more easily and faster than here. That might be a reason why they are still allowed to ask these question. Just an explanation, not an excuse.
how many men and women of working age (15-65?) there are in Switzerland? I’m curious about the proportion of men to women? Could this effect the ranking?Anyway, in thinking further on this, I come up with a few more wonderings myself…for one, the Swiss education system, from what I can see, heads kids either towards higher education or towards trades pretty early on. If I had been expected to know what I was going to do at 14 or 15, no way, I would have ended up in a trade…and I have a Ph.D. now…but I needed to be in the world and grow up awhile before I was clear. That doesn’t seem to be so easy to do in Switzerland. So maybe more women are sent towards trades early on? I do agree with you that the corporate culture in Switzerland requires that fewer people to do more work (so the corporation makes more money)…but that seems to be the problem everywhere…for men and women…the working person being effected by corporate greed and power. But it is still puzzling to me why Switzerland’s “women’s rights” ranking is so low…a more traditional culture? Hmm…
sorry, I am not aware what the proportion of men and women of working age are.
I am still surprised about the ranking in the educational category. Actually I consider the apprentiship system as quite good. Most professions are learned through apprentiships, physiotherapist, hair dressers, mechanics etc. all learn by this system An apprentiship can go from 2 to 4 years. It is practical, learning by doing, and usually includes 2 days of school per week. Only academic professions go through the University.
As far as I know the number of girls going to the gymnasium and achieving the Maturité is pretty equal. Also for the last 15 years I have been teaching in a school with marketing programs for management people. I usually go there 3 times a year at the beginning of a program to teach memory and learning techniques. Looking back, at the beginning it was almost male only classes, but over the last few years it has become much more balanced. These people work in companies and do these trainings to progress in their job.
Then an interesting synchronisity – this evening in one of my yoga classes all women, who work in the middle and upper management – the situation at work came up. And I found out that one of them is involved in hiring people. So I took the opportunity to ask hear about the situation of employing mothers. First, there is a maternity leave and after that a women gets automatically her job back. Now if the woman stopped working for a longer time, the situation is different. But there is a law against discrimination, and not hiring because a woman has children or a baby is against the law. But how do you prove that.
I suppose I have a reason to be chauvinistically smug.
“The experience of the Nordic countries provides a useful benchmark for comparison purposes – an excellent example of the fact that concerted efforts over time will yield lasting results. It is not surprising that the Nordic countries also occupy privileged positions in the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness rankings – these societies seem to have understood the economic incentive behind empowering women: countries that do not fully capitalize on one-half of their human resources are clearly undermining their competitive potential,” added Lopez-Claros.
I made the decision to come and live here in Finland in 1974. Can’t say I’ve regretted a day since.
I work mainly in a group of 7, with three other men and three women.
Of our clients, I would guess that more than half of the leading contacts are women, spread across hi-tech, paper, and store development industries and governmental departments.