IN MOST countries, most of the time, men have it easier than women. Last week the World Economic Forum (WEF), a club of rich movers and shakers, published its annual report on the worldwide gender-gap. It showed that the gap is narrowing, but only slowly—and that women are usually on the wrong side of it. In Syria, one of the world’s least-equal countries, they earn just 15% of what men take home. In Chad, women are a quarter as likely as men to go to university. But the report also showed that on a handful of indicators, women are ahead of men in most countries—and that on most indicators they have taken the lead in at least a few places. No-one doubts that men still have an easier ride, overall. But where have women turned the gender gap into reverse?
The WEF assessed 136 countries according to the equality of outcomes between men and women in health, education, economics and politics. Iceland was ranked first for the fifth year running, closely followed by other northern European countries. The report rated countries according to women’s performance relative to men, rather than their performance overall—so countries where men and women do equally badly were ranked ahead of those in which men do brilliantly and women do merely well. On this basis the Philippines and Nicaragua both made the WEF’s top ten, ahead of many richer countries whose women enjoy a better standard of living overall.
See full Article: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/10/economist-explains-20
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