These 11 worst countries for gender equality are far from eradicating disparities between men and women in major areas of social life. Globally, women earn little more than half of men incomes; they remain underrepresented in politics, while parity in access to education and health has not been yet fully reached.
Latest Global Gender Gap Report 2015, which has measured gender inequality since 2006, shows that in last ten years global gender gap has closed by 4 percent while economic parity remains out of reach. In 2015, women earned the same salary as men did in 2006, which means that at the current rate the income gap won’t close for another 118 years. This comes as a paradox, given the fact that every year more and more highly educated women are entering the workforce. Although female students account for a greater share of the university population in 97 countries, leadership positions are still reserved for men. The report finds that only in four countries women managed to seize the majority of leadership positions. Things are even worse in politics. Only in two countries, there is gender parity in parliament while 4 have reached equality in government.
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The extent to which a country invests in improving gender parity is interconnected with its respect for basic human rights. Thus, it is not a surprise that four countries from our previous list 11 worst Asian countries for human rights violation found a place in this ranking as well.
The ranking of worst countries for gender equality is based on Global Gender Gap Report 2015 which analyzed gender parity in four areas – health, education, economy and politics. To measure disparities in each of these areas, the report relied on multiple criteria. For instance, women’s economic participation and the opportunity were determined by taking into account five factors – the labor force participation, wage equality for similar work, the gap in estimated earned incomes, and percent of women who occupy leading professional and technical positions. You will see that some countries improved their scores in these four areas but nevertheless slipped on global gender gap ranking mainly because other countries did a better job in erasing gender inequalities. Also, a few countries performed relatively well in one or two categories but scored low in others which affected their final positions.
11. Oman
Final rank: 135
Economic participation and opportunity: 134
Educational attainment: 92
Health and survival: 100
Political empowerment: 142
Oman made certain progress in educational attainment and economic participation, recorded the same score in the area of health as in 2006, and poorly performed on political empowerment. Overall score of 0.604 puts the sultanate in 135th place which is a drop compared to 2006 when it was ranked as the 115th country.
Omen ranked as first by enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education, which allowed the country nearly to close the gap in educational attainment. On the other side, improvements made toward women’s economic were not enough to at least partly erase gender disparities in the area. A small share of female workers as well as the gender income gap pulled Omen near the bottom of Global Gender Gap Ranking. In regards to women’s participation in politics, Omen performed even worse. Only one percent of parliamentary seats and 7 percent of ministerial positions are held by female politicians, which puts the country on the fourth lowest position on political empowerment scale.
10. Egypt
Final rank: 136
Economic participation and opportunity: 135
Educational attainment: 115
Health and survival: 97
Political empowerment: 136
Although Egypt made steps in narrowing the gap in economy and politics, it ranked in ten bottom countries in these two areas, which affected its final position on Global Gender Gap scale. Female workers, who constitute 26 percent of the labor force, hold only seven percent of leading positions. They are equally underrepresented in politics where 12 percent of ministerial positions is in hands of female politicians. In the area of educational attainment, Egypt made certain progress. The country came close to erasing the gap in enrollment in all three levels of education. Still, the difference in literacy rate between genders is high – 65 percent of women compared to 82 percent of men is considered literate. Finally, Egypt scores in the area of health have worsened in last ten years. Maybe the most concerning issue related to women health is the widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) – around 90 percent of women was subjected to FGM.
9. Mali
Final rank: 137
Economic participation and opportunity: 109
Educational attainment: 139
Health and survival: 141
Political empowerment: 116
Mali made progress only in one area – education while in other three gender parity deteriorated. The country recorded the greatest fall on economic participation scale. While in 2006, Mali ranked as the 35th country by gender equality on the labor market; in 2015, it slipped to 109th spot. The country’s position also significantly dropped on politics and health scale. Despite obvious deterioration, the gender gap in economy and politics is not as wide as in previously mentioned countries. Little more than half of female working population participates in the labor force, and there is a greater number of women in parliament and government then in Egypt and Oman. The main reason Mali ranked lower than above listed countries is poor results in the areas of health and education. Only one-third of the female population is literate compared to half of all men. Additionally women’s rate of enrollment is lower than that of men’s at all three educational levels.
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8. Lebanon
Final rank: 138
Economic participation and opportunity: 136
Educational attainment: 104
Health and survival: 103
Political empowerment: 143
Lebanon is another country which poor rank comes as a result of gender disparities in politics and economy. Although the gap between two genders has widened in all four areas, Lebanon preserved above the average scores in educational attainment and health. High literacy rate among women, 92 percent, as well as the small difference between the number of boys and girls who attend school, allowed the country nearly to close the gap in educational access. On the other side, in three of five sub-categories that are used for determining economic participation gap, Lebanon scored extremely poorly. Only 26 percent of the female working population is employed, compared to 76 percent of the male. Additionally, a small fraction of leading positions is in hands of women. Finally, men earn four times more compared to women. The country also ranked poorly on political empowerment scale with the female-to-male ratio in parliament and government 0.03 and 0.05, retrospectively.
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7. Morocco
Final rank: 139
Economic participation and opportunity: 140
Educational attainment: 123
Health and survival: 95
Political empowerment: 97
Morocco occupies 97th place on political empowerment scale which is the second best position among listed countries. Although women remain underrepresented in country’s bodies, female-to-male ratio is higher than in other places on the list. Morocco also recorded improvements in the areas of health and education. The country came closer to eliminating educational attainment gap mainly due to a small difference in enrollment rates between two genders. However, literacy gap between two genders is present, which affected the country’s score on educational attainment scale. Finally, women’s access to opportunities and resources in the economic area has gotten worse over the last ten years. All five economic subcategories show that Morocco is far from reaching gender equality. Men significantly outnumber women on the labor market; they earn more and hold much greater percent of leading and skilled positions. The only encouraging indicator is that unemployment rate among women is only 0.5 percent higher than among men.
6. Jordan
Final rank: 140
Economic participation and opportunity: 142
Educational attainment: 93
Health and survival: 132
Political empowerment: 123
In last ten years, gender parity declined in Jordan, country which ranked 6th on our list 11 worst countries for gender equality. The country has recorded the greatest fall on economic and health scale slipping 47 places to 140th position in the overall ranking. Besides unequal distribution of jobs and leading roles, the income gap is among the highest in the world. Men earn approximately six times more than women. At the same time, Jordan also recorded significant fall on health scale dropping from 62th position in 2006 to 132nd in 2015. As in other places on the list, disparities in gender representations in politics remain persistent. Jordan only performed well in the area of education where it scored above the average and almost closed the gap in educational attainment.
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.
4. Chad
Final rank: 142
Economic participation and opportunity: 77
Educational attainment: 145
Health and survival: 112
Political empowerment: 112
The poorest place on the list, Chad, ranked as 77th country on gender economic empowerment scale leaving behind some EU member countries, Japan, Argentina and many other highly developed economies. Chad recorded above the average score in the area mainly because it managed nearly to close the gap in women’s participation in the labor force. In addition, the difference between women’s and men’s income is not as high as in other places. Compared to most other countries on this list, Chad also performed better on health and politics scale. However, it obtained the lowest score in the area of educational attainment which pulled the country near the bottom of global gap ranking. Low literacy and enrollment rates among women, as well as a high share of girls in total out-of-school population, remains one of the biggest issues in this African country.
3. Syria
Final rank: 143
Economic participation and opportunity: 144
Educational attainment: 103
Health and survival: 102
Political empowerment: 130
Possibly one of the most dangerous countries for women, Syria, ranked as 145th, which is a fall compared to 2006 when it occupied 115th place. Economy and politics are two areas in which gender-based disparities are the most evident. As in other low-performing countries, women are underrepresented at all levels in these two areas. They don’t participate equally in the labor force and occupy only a fraction of leading positions in business and politics. On the other side, in the areas of education and health Syria obtained scores above the average. Despite this, female population in Syria is under constant threat from ISIS extremists who regularly abduct and enslave Syrian women.
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2. Pakistan
Final rank: 144
Economic participation and opportunity: 143
Educational attainment: 135
Health and survival: 125
Political empowerment: 87
Pakistan recorded the best score on political empowerment scale among listed countries. The country’s result in this area is due to the fact that during last five decades Pakistan had a female prime minister who held the position for five years. At the same time, women are underrepresented in country’s bodies – they hold 21 percent of seats in the parliament while there are no female politicians in ministerial positions. In other three areas – health, economy and education – the country performed poorly. With less than third of female working age population participating in the labor force, only 3 percent of women are at leading positions, with wide income gap, the country is third to last on economic empowerment scale. However, Pakistan has enough resources to make significant progress toward eliminating economic disparities since more and more highly educated women are graduating from universities.
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1. Yemen
Final rank: 145
Economic participation and opportunity: 145
Educational attainment: 142
Health and survival: 123
Political empowerment: 140
Yemen ranks as first on our list of 11 worst countries for gender equality. In terms of economic participation the country recorded the lowest score – 26 percent of working women are part of the labor force, only 2 percent of leading positions is in hands of women, and they constitute 15 percent of all professional and technical workers. Additionally, 54 percent of working age women is unemployed compared to 12 percent of men. Compared to other three areas, the country recorded the best score in health. However, 123rd place is a major drop compared to 2006 when the country occupied 48th position. In terms of political empowerment, women also experience gender-based restrictions. There are no female politicians in parliament while only 10 percent of ministerial positions is held by women. Finally, in the area of educational attainment the country has a lot of work ahead, especially in closing the gap between female and male enrollment rate at tertiary education.
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