When it comes to gender equality, Germany does well in international comparison. However, it is lacking in economic participation. When it comes to education, the WEF comes to an astonishing result.
According to a new report, Germany is among the top ten countries in the world when it comes to efforts to ensure equal opportunities for men and women in business, politics and society. The Federal Republic is in seventh place in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Gender Equality Index, up from sixth place a year ago. According to these calculations, Germany has been overtaken by Nicaragua. Overall, the world still has a long way to go if things continue at the same snail’s pace as before, the WEF reported.
“It would still take five generations to close the gender gap if we maintain the current rate of progress,” the WEF said. “We cannot wait until 2158,” said WEF Executive Director Saadia Zahidi. “Now is the time for decisive action.”
Worldwide, the gender gap has been closed by 68.5 percent, just 0.1 percentage points better than a year ago. 100 percent would be equivalent to gender equality. The gap remains particularly large in the areas of artificial intelligence and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Overall, according to the report, women made up 42 percent of all workers, but only held 31.7 percent of top positions.
Poor results in various sub-indexes
First place again goes to Iceland, with 93.5 percent, followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden. For Germany, the figure was 81 percent. While Germany does well in the “Political Participation” sub-index, coming in 6th place, it is 82nd in the “Economic Participation and Equal Opportunities” sub-index.
In the education sub-index, the WEF ranks Germany only 91st, far behind Botswana, Sri Lanka and Romania. It states that there is a problem with girls in secondary school, i.e. after primary school, where Germany is ranked 126th out of 146 countries. When asked, the WEF was unable to provide further explanations. It cited data from the UN organization UNESCO. The difference to countries that rank ahead of Germany is small. The WEF has been producing the report since 2006.
Source: Stern
