Global Gender Gap Report 2021 Ranks UAE 120 Out Of 150 Countries
Another generation of women will have to wait for gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt, closing the global gender gap has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years.
Progress towards gender parity is stalling in several large economies and industries. This is partly due to women being more frequently employed in sectors hardest hit by lockdowns combined with the additional pressures of providing care at home.
The report, now in its 15th year, benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps in four areas: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment. It also examines the drivers of gender gaps and outlines the policies and practices needed for a gender-inclusive recovery.
The deterioration in 2021 is partly attributed to a widening political gender gap in several large population countries. Despite over half of the 156 indexed countries registering an improvement, women still hold only26.1% of parliamentary seats and 22.6% of ministerial positions worldwide. On its current trajectory, the political gender gap is expected to take 145.5 years to close, compared to 95 years in the 2020 edition of the report, an increase of over 50%.
UAE performance
The past year saw a significant improvement in the performance of the UAE, the country is successfully bridging the gender gap and achieving gender equality. In this year’s report is the UAE ranks among the top 5 improved countries. Having moved forward a total of 48 placements, the UAE has once again topped the region, followed by Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
The UAE’s leadership position among its neighbouring countries is an indication that the it maintains the momentum despite the various impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a significant effect on the performance of countries around the world in this year’s report.
According to the report, the UAE has so far bridged 71.6% of its gender gap, several performance indicators have witnessed improvement, such as the Political Empowerment indicator, which saw a closure of 4.03 of the gap, here the UAE ranks 24th globally compared to 75th last year.
As for the Economic Participation and opportunity indicator, the UAE closed 5.10, compared to 4.72 last year. Overall, wage equality for similar work, and the estimated earned income have both improved, additionally, the number of the female legislators, senior officials and managers has also seen an increase.
COVID-19’s impact on women
The pandemic has had a more negative impact on women than men, with women losing jobs at higher rates (5% vs 3.9% among men, International Labour Organization), partly due to their disproportionate representation in sectors directly disrupted by lockdowns, such as the consumer sector. Data from the United States also indicates that women from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups are worst affected.
As the job market recovers, LinkedIn data shows that women are being hired at a slower rate in multiple industries. They are also less likely to be hired for leadership roles, resulting in a reversal of up to two years’ progress.
The Middle East and North Africa region continues to have the largest gender gap (39.1%) yet to be closed. Despite a slight improvement (+0.5 percentage points), progress is slow, and it will take 142.4 years to close the gender gap, due in large part to the wide economic gender gap, with just 31% of women taking part in the labour force.
The Global Gender Gap Report is a publication of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society. The centre supplements its research into gender gaps with a growing portfolio of initiatives to drive progress.
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9 | BIZPRENEUR MIDDLE EAST April 2021