Costa Rica ranked 13th in best countries for gender equality

(QCOSTARICA) First published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum, the Global Gender Gap Index measures gender equality in 153 countries by tracking and ranking a range of gender-based gaps across society.

Now in its 14th year, the report is compiled by calculating gender-based gaps using four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity; Educational Attainment; Health and Survival; Political Empowerment.

The index also tracks progress towards closing gender-based gaps over time and makes regional comparisons.

Assessing the gender gap enables the index to compare rich and poor countries on an equal footing. It is the disparity between genders that is being measured rather than the baseline quality of living.

Costa Rica ranked 13th of 153 countries for gender equality, with a score of 0.782.

The top is Iceland with a score of 0.087, followed by Norway (0.842, Finland (0.832), Sweden (0.820) and Nicaragua (0.804) rounding out the top 5 best countries for gender equality

On the flip side, Yemen, with a score of 0.494 is the worst.

Click here for the complete ranking list.

Key findings

• Iceland remains the world’s most gender-equal country for the 11th time in a row.
• The global top 10 features seven European countries, one country from the Americas, one from East Asia and the Pacific and one country from Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Western Europe is the best performing region for the 14th consecutive year.
• The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the worst-performing region, despite having narrowed its gap by 0.5 points since last year.
• The USA (53) and Canada (19) have both stalled, particularly in terms of economic participation and opportunity. At the current rate, it will take 151 years to close the gap.
• Spain, Ethiopia, Mexico and Georgia improved the most since last year, all increasing their positions by more than 20 places.
• Recent global improvements can largely be ascribed to a significant increase in the number of women in politics.
• However, in the past 50 years, 85 states have had no female head of state.
• Globally, only 55% of women (aged 15-64) are engaged in the labour market as opposed to 78% of men.
• In 72 countries women are barred from opening bank accounts or obtaining credit.
• There is no country where men spend the same amount of time on unpaid work as women. In countries where the ratio is lowest, it is still 2:1.

Closing the gap

According to factsinstitute.com, the current trajectory, global gender parity will take 99.5 years. This is an improvement on the previous year when the gap was calculated to take 108 years.

However, it still means parity between men and women across all dimensions – health, education, work and politics – will take more than a lifetime to achieve.

Some regions are making better progress than others in regards to gender parity.

1. Western Europe will achieve gender parity in 54 years.
2. Latin America and the Caribbean in 59 years.
3. South Asia in 71.5 years.
4. Sub-Saharan Africa in 95 years.
5. Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 107 years.
6. Middle East and North Africa in 140 years.
7. North America in 151 years.
8. East Asia and the Pacific in 163 years.

Mind the 100 Year Gap

None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. That’s the sobering finding of the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, which reveals that gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years. Click here to download the report.