Monday, June 06, 2005
[IWS] WEF: Womens Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap [16 May 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Womens Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap [16 May 2005]
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gender_gap.pdf
[full-text, 23 pages]
See Press Release [16 May 2005]
World Economic Forum Launches New Gender Gap Index Measuring Inequality between Women and Men in 58 Countries
http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/World+Economic+Forum+Launches+New+%E2%80%9CGender+Gap+Index%E2%80%9D+Measuring+Inequality+between+Women+and+Men+in+58+Countries
16 May 2005 - Geneva, Switzerland
REPORT FINDS SWEDEN AND OTHER NORTHERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DO BEST THE UNITED STATES (17), SWITZERLAND (34), JAPAN (38), BRAZIL (51), INDIA (53) AND TURKEY (57) DO LESS WELL
The World Economic Forum is releasing today the first ever study that attempts to quantify the size of the gender gap in 58 countries.
Entitled Womens Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap, the report measures the size of the gap between women and men in five critical areas based on UNIFEMs (United Nations Development Fund for Women) findings of global patterns of inequality between men and women:
1) economic participation equal remuneration for equal work; 2) economic opportunity access to the labour market that is not restricted to low-paid, unskilled jobs; 3) political empowerment representation of women in decision-making structures; 4) educational attainment access to education; 5) health and well-being access to reproductive healthcare.
The study ranks Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland at the top of the list, as the countries with the smallest gender gap. Characterized by strongly liberal societies, with an impressive record of openness and transparency in government, and comprehensive safety nets that provide security to vulnerable groups in the population, women in these countries have access to a wider spectrum of educational, political and work opportunities and enjoy a higher standard of living than women in other parts of the world. While no country has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap, the Nordic countries have succeeded best in narrowing it and, in a very clear sense, provide a workable model for the rest of the world.
The report covers all 30 OECD countries and 28 other emerging markets. The study uses a large number of hard data indicators drawn from international organizations and qualitative information from the Forums own Executive Opinion Survey. The study measures the extent to which women have been able to achieve full equality with men in a number of critical areas.1
The Forum has undertaken this study in order to facilitate the work of governments, aid agencies and NGOs by providing a benchmarking tool to assess the size of the gender gap in these countries, ranking them according to the level of advancement of their female population and identifying successes and failures, based on economic, political, educational and health-based criteria. Our aim is essentially to allow countries to identify their strengths and weaknesses in an area of critical importance for the development process and to provide opportunities for countries to learn from the experiences of others that have been more successful in promoting the equality of women and men, said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist and Director of the Global Competitiveness Programme at the World Economic Forum.
AND MORE....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Womens Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap [16 May 2005]
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gender_gap.pdf
[full-text, 23 pages]
See Press Release [16 May 2005]
World Economic Forum Launches New Gender Gap Index Measuring Inequality between Women and Men in 58 Countries
http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/World+Economic+Forum+Launches+New+%E2%80%9CGender+Gap+Index%E2%80%9D+Measuring+Inequality+between+Women+and+Men+in+58+Countries
16 May 2005 - Geneva, Switzerland
REPORT FINDS SWEDEN AND OTHER NORTHERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DO BEST THE UNITED STATES (17), SWITZERLAND (34), JAPAN (38), BRAZIL (51), INDIA (53) AND TURKEY (57) DO LESS WELL
The World Economic Forum is releasing today the first ever study that attempts to quantify the size of the gender gap in 58 countries.
Entitled Womens Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap, the report measures the size of the gap between women and men in five critical areas based on UNIFEMs (United Nations Development Fund for Women) findings of global patterns of inequality between men and women:
1) economic participation equal remuneration for equal work; 2) economic opportunity access to the labour market that is not restricted to low-paid, unskilled jobs; 3) political empowerment representation of women in decision-making structures; 4) educational attainment access to education; 5) health and well-being access to reproductive healthcare.
The study ranks Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland at the top of the list, as the countries with the smallest gender gap. Characterized by strongly liberal societies, with an impressive record of openness and transparency in government, and comprehensive safety nets that provide security to vulnerable groups in the population, women in these countries have access to a wider spectrum of educational, political and work opportunities and enjoy a higher standard of living than women in other parts of the world. While no country has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap, the Nordic countries have succeeded best in narrowing it and, in a very clear sense, provide a workable model for the rest of the world.
The report covers all 30 OECD countries and 28 other emerging markets. The study uses a large number of hard data indicators drawn from international organizations and qualitative information from the Forums own Executive Opinion Survey. The study measures the extent to which women have been able to achieve full equality with men in a number of critical areas.1
The Forum has undertaken this study in order to facilitate the work of governments, aid agencies and NGOs by providing a benchmarking tool to assess the size of the gender gap in these countries, ranking them according to the level of advancement of their female population and identifying successes and failures, based on economic, political, educational and health-based criteria. Our aim is essentially to allow countries to identify their strengths and weaknesses in an area of critical importance for the development process and to provide opportunities for countries to learn from the experiences of others that have been more successful in promoting the equality of women and men, said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist and Director of the Global Competitiveness Programme at the World Economic Forum.
AND MORE....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 2:26 PM
