11 Worst Countries for Gender Equality

5. Iran

Final rank: 141

Economic participation and opportunity: 141

Educational attainment: 106

Health and survival: 99

Political empowerment: 137

Although Iran’s overall score in 2015 has been the same as in 2006, the country fell from 108th place to 141st, mainly because it failed to keep up with the progress made by other countries. Two most critical areas for women’s rights are economy and politics, while country ranked relatively well on health and education scale, occupying 106th and 99th place retrospectively.

With only 18 percent of working age women in the labor force, Iran has one of lowest rates of female participation in the workforce. As in many other countries, a small percent of working women is the result of a small percent of educated females and deeply rooted stereotypes about gender roles. Additionally, the income gap is far from closing soon as men’s earnings exceed that of women almost six times. In terms of political empowerment, data shows that only 3 percent of parliamentary seats and 10 percent of ministerial positions are held by female politicians.