Efforts to close the global gender gap improved slightly this year after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed gender equality by at least three decades, the World Economic Forum said.

In its 16th Global Gender Gap Report, the WEF said overall gender disparity across politics, work, health and education improved and it will now take 132 years to reach full parity compared with 136 years last year. Before the pandemic, the gap was set to close within 100 years.

Iceland topped the ranking for the 13th consecutive year due to the nation’s high educational attainment score and the high percentage of women in government followed by Finland, Norway and New Zealand. South Korea ranked 99th among 146 countries. 

The WEF’s global gender gap index measures progress toward gender parity in four areas: Economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival as well as political empowerment. (Bloomberg)