Global Gender Gap Report 2007 Gender equality trends up until 2007
Authors: R, Hausmann; L. D. Tyson; S, Zahidi Publisher: World Economic Forum, 2007 Full text of document: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf This report provides an analysis of the trends in gender equality across 128 countries in Africa, Asia, North and South America. It is intended to lead to greater awareness of the gender challenges and opportunities, in addition to serving as a catalyst for change in both high- and low-ranking countries. The report also aims to serve as a useful benchmarking tool for policy-makers as they define their national priorities by providing them with a snapshot of their relative strengths and weaknesses. It is argued that as policy-makers and business leaders seek to address talent shortages, it is becoming increasingly urgent to close gender gaps and leverage the talents of both women and men. Addressing this challenge will require a multi stakeholder approach. Some of the key trends highlighted from 2007 across the world's regions include: * Europe- many European countries hold privileged spots in the Gender Gap Rankings 2007. Fourteen of them - the five Nordic countries, Germany, Ireland, Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia and Belgium - hold places among the top 20 positions * North America - the United States' performance was mixed over the last year and resulted in a small overall drop in its rank, from 23 in 2006 to 31 in 2007 (29 among the original 115 countries) * Latin America and the Caribbean - four countries out of the 15 that have closed the gender gap on education and 17 out of the 35 that have closed the gap on health are from the Latin America and Caribbean region * Middle East and North Africa - Israel (36th) continues to hold the top spot in the Middle East and North Africa region, favoured by higher-than-average performances on economic participation (45th), educational attainment (38th) and political empowerment (41st) * Asia and Oceania- the Philippines (6th) and Sri Lanka (15th) remain distinctive for being the only Asian countries in the top 20 of the rankings * Sub-Saharan Africa- South Africa (20th) continues to hold the prime spot among the rankings and is the only country from the region to hold a place among the top 20.
