Turkey is ranked 130th on a list of 149 countries measuring inequality between their male and female populations, according to a recent report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“The Global Gender Gap Report” benchmarks 149 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
“Meanwhile, Turkey (130) sees progress on closing its gender gap in labor force participation as well as professional and technical roles. However, it also experiences a worsening of wage equality for similar work. In addition, it improves its share of women in parliament,” says the report, which was released on Monday.
Turkey ranks ahead of Ivory Coast, Bahrain, Nigeria, Togo, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen.
In the WEF’s gender gap report of 2006, Turkey was ranked 105th. It has gone backward over the past 12 years vis-à-vis gender equality in the country.
The country that has the smallest gender gap is Iceland, followed by Norway and Sweden, while the greatest gender gap is found in Yemen, followed by Pakistan, Iraq and Syria, according to the report.
“Gender parity is fundamental to whether and how economies and societies thrive. Ensuring the full development and appropriate deployment of half of the world’s total talent pool has a vast bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide,” the report says.