'Gender gap' is biggest in Egypt

19次大中小

男女不平等埃及排第一

'Gender gap' is biggest in Egypt

Women in Egypt are the furthest behind men in terms of economic equality, while no country has closed the "gender gap" entirely, a new survey has found.

Sweden has the smallest difference between the sexes, followed by Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland, according to the World Economic Forum.

The report singled out the US for particular criticism, saying it "lags behind many Western European nations".

The WEF ranked nations on five criteria, including equal pay and access to jobs.

Other factors were representation of women in decision-making structures, equal access to education and access to reproductive healthcare.

The WEF survey covered all 30 industrialised countries in the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), plus 28 emerging market countries.

Several of the most populous nations in the world languish at the lower end of the table. India, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are all in the bottom 10.

"Their rankings reflect large disparities between men and women of all five areas of the index," the WEF said in its report, with the only bright spot being India's high score for political empowerment of women.

Latin America has its share of poor performers, with Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico all in the worst 10.

"The problem here appears to be not in the lack of opportunity once women have entered the workforce, but rather in giving them access to the educational training and basic rights, such as healthcare and political empowerment, that will enable them to join the workforce," the WEF said.

The US, the world's largest economy, came 17th in the WEF's equality table.

It "ranks poorly on the specific dimensions of economic opportunity and health and well-being, compromised by meagre maternity leave, the lack of maternity leave benefits and limited government-provided childcare," the WEF said.

In Asia, China was the highest-rated country at number 33 - scoring well on economic participation, but badly on education and political empowerment. Japan is a few places behind at 38.

一项最新的调查表明，尽管世界上还没有一个国家可以完全解决性别差距问题，但埃及妇女在经济平等方面与本国男性差距最大。

世界经济论坛的调查显示，瑞典是全世界性别差距最小的国家，紧随其后的是挪威、冰岛、丹麦和芬兰。

这份报告还单独将美国列出，指责其“落后于许多西方国家”。

世界经济论坛的排名主要基于五项标准，包括平等的工资待遇和就业机会。

其他因素还包括：女性在决策机构中的代表权、平等接受教育的权利以及享有生育保健的权利。

这次的调查覆盖了总部设在巴黎的经济合作与发展组织旗下的30个工业化国家，以及28个新兴市场国家。

好几个世界人口大国的排名都很靠后。印度、巴基斯坦、土耳其和埃及都在后10名之列。

世界经济论坛的报告指出：“这些国家的排名反映出在这五个调查领域里女性与男性的巨大差距。”唯一的亮点是印度妇女在政治权利一项中得分较高。

一些拉美国家的情况也很差，像委内瑞拉、巴西和墨西哥，排名都在倒数前10名之内。

世界经济论坛认为，“问题并不在于女性工作后不能获得平等的机会，而是女性缺少接受教育培训的机会，女性的一些基本权利无法得到保障，比如健康保健和政治权利，而这些恰恰对女性就业有很大帮助。”

世界最大的经济体美国在这次排名中名列第17位。

世界经济论坛指出美国在就业机会、健康和福利方面排名靠后，这主要是因为在美国，妇女产假较短，产假期间收入较少，还有政府对儿童提供的照顾有限。