The study is based on four key areas of education, economic opportunity, health and political empowerment analysed across 156 countries.
The World Economic Forum released an annual report after analysing and tracking disparities between different 156 countries. The announcement took note of 4 key areas: health, education, economic opportunity and political empowerment. The study is completed by integrating the newest statistics derived from international organisations and a survey of executives. The ongoing pandemic has widened the gender gap between men and females in developed and developing economies across the world. Coronavirus has made it even tougher to nurture inclusive and prosperous economies and societies where men and women both find themselves in an equal world. The lockdown and rapid digitalisation have hit demanding sectors during which women are more frequently employed. This disproportionate impact on women has taken back years of progress made towards gender sensitivity and gender equality.
Closing schools put an additional burden on working women who had to supply childcare for children amid an employment crisis where women experienced a better percentage than men. In its annual report, the planet Economic Forum (WEF) has stated that the consequences of gender disparity are going to be felt on a long-term basis, even after the coronavirus pandemic comes to an end. The organisation, through its analysis, predicts it will take 135.6 years to fill the gender parity gap, up from a generation from the time during which the pandemic hit us. Sectors like tourism and retail generally happen to use more women than men; these sectors are impacted within the worst manner by the continuing pandemic. Various governments got to initiate policies that prioritise gender equality in multiple workplaces and hard-hit sectors to stop long-term scarring within the labour market. Investing in inclusive workplaces and creating more equitable care systems would be the proper way forward to form up for the damage instilled by the pandemic. Big corporates and leaders must advance towards bringing more women in leadership positions whilst reskilling and redeploying gender parity into the longer term of labour.
A previous report published by WEF in collaboration with the global elite in Davos’sDavos’s plush Swiss ski resort stated that the gender parity between men and women across various arenas would be reached within 99.5 years. However, this year’s annual report shows the planet is falling back to shut the gender gap for an additional 135.6 years. This only proves that another generation of girls will still await gender parity.
On a positive note, women are often seen closing the gender gap in various sectors like health and education. At an equivalent time, inequality at the workplace remains a struggle that might only end after 267.6 years, and therefore the pandemic has only made it worse, as stated by the report. The WEF acknowledged the study during which the UN’s International Labor Organization mentioned that women were more likely to lose their jobs thanks to the crisis. They are primarily represented disproportionately in sectors that are directly disrupted by the lockdowns. Another LinkedIn data referenced within the report stated that females were being hired back at a way slower rate than men when offices began to open again. Increased housework and childcare only made things harder for women across the world.
In a statement, the managing director of WEF said, “If we want a dynamic future economy, women need to be represented; this is the moment to embed gender parity by design into the recovery.”
Political leadership gaps between men and women have only widened during the pandemic, making it even tougher to possess equal representation in various governments and parliaments, as stated in the study by WEF. Women still hold a mere 22.6 per cent of ministerial positions and just over 1 / 4 of parliamentary seats worldwide. In the current pace at which gender inequality is unfolding, it might take over 145.5 years for the political gender gap to thoroughly close, as highlighted within the report. In 81 countries, there has never been a woman head of state, as of 15th January 2021, added the information. It is important to notice that progress across different categories differs significantly in various countries. According to the report, Western European countries could successfully close their gender gap in 52.1 years. At an equivalent time, countries within the Middle East and North Africa would take 142.4 years to try to do so. When one analysis the general performance, the Nordic countries have once more dominated the highest of the table. The gender gap between men and women remained the narrowest in Iceland for the 12th running year. Finland and Norway followed Iceland in improving their respective gender gap and parity index.
The report also prioritised the foremost effective policies needed to accelerate the speed at which countries can progress towards closing these gender gaps over time. Due to a persistent lack of girls in leadership positions, overall income disparities are still only halfway towards being overpowered and bridged. Progress towards wage equality seems to extend at a protracted rate in many countries, as cited within the report. With many studies that have proven the likelihood of higher financial performance, more and more organisations got to be hospitable hiring an equal number of men and women due to a more diversified team of employees.
Saadia Zahidi, the director of WEF, told CNBC in an interview that “Employers also can help women out of upper relative job losses and lower hiring rates in industries that are bouncing back, If businesses want to possess the … creativity and innovation which will get them out of the crisis, they have diversity, then they have to think of this as a business financing also .” The detail further suggests that gender positive and gender-equal policies can help gear the crisis better on an overall basis. When people learn to be more gender-sensitive in their approach towards economic gains, gender equality is going to be at par for both men and ladies altogether in areas of society. Occupational segregation must be avoided at the least costs to stop widening the gender gap in several regions across the world.