Costa Rica 2nd In Gender Equality in Central America

QCOSTARICA – When it comes to gender equality Costa Rica is second in Central America, 5^th in the ranking of Latin American and the Caribbean countries and 38^th worldwide.

Costa Rica’s neighbour to the north, Nicaragua is first in Latin America and the Caribbean and 12^th worldwide, according to the 2015 Gender Gap Report, published by the World Economic Forum.

Nicaragua which was previously the only country from Latin America and the Caribbean in the top ten loses 6 places this year due to decreases in wage equality and the percentage of women in parliamentary and ministerial positions.

Over the years, Costa Rica has dropped from 27th of 134 countries ranked in 2009.

The lowest performing countries from the region are Belize , Guatemala and Paraguay.

Finland is in first place globally, while Yemen has the greatest inequality among 145 countries.

Ten years of data from the Global Gender Gap Report – first published in 2006 – reveals in Latin America, Nicaragua and Bolivia are the strongest performers in reducing the overall gender gap over the last decade. Nicaragua and Bolivia are also among the most improved in the political pillar, along with Slovenia, Iceland, France, Italy and Switzerland, closing their political gender gaps between 20% and 35%.

In 2015, the Global Gender Gap Index ranks 145 countries on the gap between women and men on health, education, economic and political indicators.

“More women than men are enrolled in universities in nearly 100 countries but women hold the majority of senior roles in only a handful of countries(…),” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of the Global Challenge on Gender Parity at the World Economic Forum.

The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas:

• Economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation and leadership
• Education – access to basic and higher levels of education
• Political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures
• Health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio

Partners of the Global Challenge on Gender Parity are: A.T. Kearney, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Burda Media, Centene Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Heidrick & Struggles, Johnson Controls , JLL, ManpowerGroup, Old Mutual, Omnicom Group, Ooredoo, PwC, Renault-Nissan Alliance, SABMiller, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Tupperware Brands Corporation.

Read the report here: http://wef.ch/gendergap15

Ranking of Latin American and Caribbean countries included in the Global Gender Gap Index 2015 report:

1. Nicaragua (12)
2. Cuba (29)
3. Ecuador (33)
4. Argentina (35)
5. Costa Rica (38)
6. Colombia (42)
7. Panama (44)
8. El Salvador (62)
9. Mexico (71)
10. Venezuela (78)
11. Honduras (80)
12. Brazil (85)
13. Dominican Republic (86)
14. Peru (89)
15. Uruguay (93)
16. Belize (103)
17. Guatemala (105)
18. Paraguay (107)

Costa Rica infograph from the Global Gender Gap Index 2015: