Global Gender Gap Report 2011
Fri 4 Nov 2011
New Zealand has slipped one place to sixth position in the world in the 2011 Global Gender Gap report (375 pages, 2.29 MB) that measures 135 countries, falling behind Ireland. 
“While New Zealand has much to be proud of, the report confirms the evidence of the Census of Women’s Participation in New Zealand that women’s equality is at a tipping point, “says Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Dr Judy McGregor.
The internationally recognised Global Gender Gap Report 2011’s rankings and scores is produced by the World Economic Forum and quantifies the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracks their progress over time.
“There is a stark warning from the latest Global Gender Gap Report. New Zealand can either continue to be a world leader or slide behind those who are maximising the returns on investing in women’s education and participation”, Dr McGregor says.
New Zealand in the only country in the top ten to have slipped a place from the 2010 rankings. The Nordic countries are again the winners. Iceland claims no 1 position for the third year in a row, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden. Ireland has jumped over New Zealand and the report states that while both countries show improvement in their scores, Ireland has posted relatively large gains.
Global Gender Gap 2011 Index
| Country | Score |
2010 Rank
|
| Iceland | 0.853 | 1 |
| Norway | 0.840 | 2 |
| Finland | 0.838 | 3 |
| Sweden | 0.804 | 4 |
| Ireland | 0.783 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 0.781 | 5 |
| Denmark | 0.778 | 7 |
| Philippines | 0.768 | 8 |
| Lesotho | 0.766 | 9 |
| Switzerland | 0.762 | 10 |
Although no country has yet achieved gender equality, all of the Nordic countries, with the exception of Denmark which is one behind New Zealand, have closed over 80% of the gender gap and the report states that they serve as “models and useful benchmarks for international comparisons.”
The Global Gender Gap Index examines the gap between men and women in four fundamental categories: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. Part of Its international credibility lies in the fact it evaluates countries based on outcome variables rather then input measures.
“Data relating to economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment collected bv the Human Rights Commission and published in the Census report every two years, shows New Zealand is slipping by comparison with other like countries in some areas. This has been confirmed by the Global Gender Gap report.
“Given our proud record in women’s equality, which is one of the essential things that make us proud of being Kiwis, we clearly need new thinking about how we further women’s progress”, Dr McGregor said.
New Zealand ranks 1st equal in the world with 22 other countries in relation to educational attainment. It is ranked 6th highest in income, 8th in political empowerment and 11th in economic participation and opportunity.
The report notes that while many developed economies have succeeded in maximising the closing gender gap in education between men and women, few have capitalised on the investment. It also notes the Nordic countries top-down approach to promoting women’s leadership. For example, in Norway, publicly listed companies have been required to have 40% of each sex on their boards since 2008 and other countries are adopting similar measures.
The report states that, “a system where women are not represented at the highest levels is both an unequal and inefficient system. We must design new measures to ensure that women are represented in political decision-making.” It commits in the future depending on data availability to also measuring the differences between the participation of women and men at local levels of government, an area in which New Zealand has yet to meet the Commonwealth target of 30% women’s participation.
In terms of regions, New Zealand (6th) and the Philippines (8th) are the only two countries in the top 10 from the Asia Pacific region, which overall has closed just over 65% of the gender gap. Australia is at 23rd, Singapore at 57th and Fiji at 109th.
Globally the 135 countries covered represent over 90% of the world’s population. The Report shows that almost 96% of the gap in health outcomes between men and women and almost 93% of the gap in educational attainment have closed. However, the gap between men and women on economic participation and political empowerment remains wide: only 59% of the economic outcomes gap and only 19% of the political outcomes gap has been closed.
The first Global gender Gap report was produced in 2006 to address the need for a consistent and comprehensive measure for gender equality that can track a country’s progress over time. In 2011 the report concludes that there is a need for more rapid progress in closing gender gaps.
“For New Zealand we need new thinking, particularly about women’s economic participation and political and corporate sector empowerment to remain a world leader. If we don’t act now we will be overtaken by other countries who clearly see both the rights perspective and the efficiency viewpoint of gender equality”, Dr McGregor.
Read other related material to the 2011 Global Gender Gap Report:
New Zealand loses 5th place as other nations improve (Stuff, 4 Nov 11)
New Zealand slips in global gender ranking (Voxy, 2 Nov 11)