International Women’s Day, which falls on Saturday, March 8, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.
In 2023, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported that no country had yet achieved full gender equality, and that progress is slow and incremental.
At that rate of progress, the report found it would take 131 years to reach parity between women and men. So, what is measured when considering gender equality and which countries were polling well in 2023?
Countries in Europe and North America tend to do better than the rest of the world, but there is plenty of variation.
A wealthy country like the United States (ranking 43rd) had a gender gap at less than 75 per cent was behind Colombia, Belarus, Liberia and Cabo Verde.
Australia (ranking 26th with a gap at 77.8 per cent), fell between Mozambique and Chile, and Canada (ranking 30th with a gap at 77 per cent), was between Slovenia and Barbados.
The report focuses on women’s economic participation (including the gender gaps in income, employment and leadership roles), educational attainment (with measures like literacy rates and educational enrolment), health and survival (such as life expectancy) and political empowerment (female representation in
parliament, ministerial positions and number of years with a male or female head of state).
Based on this data, which places perform the best – and what do women say it’s really like to live there? This is what four of the top-ranked nations do better.
ICELAND
For the 14th year in a row, Iceland takes the top position in the WEF rankings, with it gender gap estimated to be 91.2 per cent closed. It is the only country to have closed more than 90 per cent of its gap.
Iceland ranks first in terms of political empowerment, thanks to the fact that nearly 25 of the last 50 years have seen a female head of state and that 48 per cent of its parliament members are female, for example. But it comes in 79th in educational attainment and 128th for female health and survival.
Even on measurements where Iceland performs well, such as the wage gap, the day-to-day picture is more complicated.
Iceland’s wage gap between genders is smaller than most other countries, partly thanks to 2018 legislation declaring that companies with more than 25 employees must provide equal pay for equal work (or risk daily fines).
NORWAY
Norway came second in the WEF’s 2023 rankings, with a global gender gap estimated to be 87.9 per cent closed. It also ranked first in the 2021 Women Peace and Security Index.
A lot more women are now in positions that used to be taken by men, and more women are represented in ministry positions than in any other country internationally.
Norwegians are focused on freedom and empowerment for all citizens.
NEW ZEALAND
Ranking fourth in the 2023 WEF report, New Zealand is the doing especially well in political representation.
In 2023 female enrolment in primary and secondary education was almost on par with men, while 50 per cent of New Zealand’s parliament members were female.
The gender split was echoed in higher education where the split is even with women often outnumbering men. Career opportunities are very seldom less-than-equal to male counterparts. The 2023 WEF report found that women in New Zealand earned, for example, an average of $33,620 per year compared to $52,370 for men.
In terms of wage equality for equal work, New Zealand ranked 37th.
At 109th in the world, it also does relatively badly for female life expectancy. Statistics show that the indigenous Māori population is at particular risk, with Māori women’s life expectancy being nearly seven years shorter than that of non-Māori women.
NAMIBIA
Namibia bests many countries in other parts of the world, including the United Kingdom (15th, 79.2 per cent), Spain (18th, 79.1 per cent), Canada (30th, 77 per cent) and the United States (43rd, 74.8 per cent).
Many ministers and Namibian ambassadors are female. Staff do not face discrimination in relation to career trajectories due to Namibia’s healthy work environment.
While gender parity was a great step in the right direction representation was seen as only part of the equation.
In 2023 thought was being given to analysing female aspirations. In terms of gender-based violence and sexual harassment, the country was seen as having a lot to still accomplish.
The 2021 Women Peace and Security Index, for example, placed Namibia 95th, behind other African countries including Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa and Ghana.
In relation to culture Namibia has much to offer– the diverse regional populations, the music, the energy. Namibia has great potential.
