Way to Go Iceland!

I came across this gender equality map the other day. It ranks every country in the world based on data obtained via the World Economic Forum. Take a look at the map itself here:

http://widgets.weforum.org/gender-gap-2014-01/

(Sorry, it’s supposed to magically appear in the post…grr.)

If you’d like to just skip to the bottom line, here’s the article’s conclusion:

Despite the vast discrepancies between, say, Iceland (the #1 country) and Pakistan (bottom of the list), the WEF stresses that no country has fully closed the gender gap. It has been publishing these rankings since 2006.

The report’s authors say that gender equality is improving worldwide, overall, boosted by growing numbers of women being allowed access to jobs and building a stake in their country’s political life. “Much of the progress on gender equality over the last 10 years has come from more women entering politics and the workforce,” the report’s lead author, Saadia Zahidi, told the Associated Press.

But more regressive realities remain — with women struggling for access to education and adequate health care in a host of developing countries, and wage inequities persisting virtually everywhere.

The United States improved a few spots this year, ranking 20th, ahead of fellow Anglophone countries such as Australia and Britain. But it still lags behind far poorer nations such as Nicaragua and Rwanda.

“Both rich countries and poor countries can afford gender equality,” Zahidi told Fortune magazine. “Gender equality doesn’t have to only come along once a country is fully developed.”