Gender gap closes at fastest pace since pandemic, says WEF

IOL News

2 days ago

A woman holds a placard reading "No gender gap" during a rally for gender equality and against violence towards women to mark the International Women's Day in Rome in this file photo.
Image: AFP
The global gender gap has closed to 68.8%, marking the strongest annual advancement since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, released on Thursday.
However, the report says full parity remains 123 years away at current rates.
'At a time of heightened global economic uncertainty and a low growth outlook combined with technological and demographic change, advancing gender parity represents a key force for economic renewal," said Saadia Zahidi, the managing director of the World Economic Forum (WEF). "The evidence is clear. Economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative and more resilient economic progress.'
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A key finding of the report was that at the aggregate level, high-income economies have closed 74.3% of their gender gap – slightly higher than the averages observed in lower income groups: 69.6% among upper-middle income, 66.0% among lower-middle-income,and 66.4% among low-income economies. However, the top performers among lower income economies have closed a greater share of their gender gaps than over half of the economies in the high-income group.
Iceland leads the rankings, out of 148 nations, for the 16th year running, followed by Finland, Norway, the UK and New Zealand. South Africa places 33 with a gender parity score of 76.7%
Sub-Saharan Africa ranks sixth among regions in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Index, with an overall gender parity score of 68.0%.
The WEF report said that since 2006, the region has improved its parity score by 5.6 percentage points. Comprising 36 economies, the region displays significant heterogeneity in parity outcomes.
The highest-ranked country, Namibia (81.1%), places 8th globally and is the only Sub-Saharan African economy in the global top 10 in 2025. Historically, Namibia has featured in the top 10 six times. .
At the other end of the spectrum, Chad ranks 146th with a score of 57.1%, resulting in a 24-percentage-point gap between the top and bottom performers.Twenty economies in the region place in the global top 100.
In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Sub-Saharan Africa ranks fifth, with a score of 67.5%, marking a 4.8 percentage-point improvement since 2006.
The report found the region presents diverse performance profiles in this dimension: Chad records the lowest score (44.4%), while Botswana leads globally (87.3%). Female labour-force participation ranges from 39.2% in Senegal to 80.7% in Nigeria. Representation of women in senior economic leadership varies widely, from 11.6% in Chad to 69.9% in Burkina Faso.The region has achieved a 35.1 percentage-point improvement in parity for senior officials, managers and legislators, and a 12-point gain in labour-force participation parity.
Sub-Saharan Africa ranks eighth in Educational Attainment, with a score of 85.6%, up 5.2 percentage points since 2006. "This improvement is largely driven by gains in educational enrolment parity,though challenges remain, the report said.
However, female literacy parity has declined by 1.5 percentage points over time, and in 2025, female literacy rates remain below 50% in 13 economies. Female enrolment in primary education remains below 80% in nearly one-third of the region's economies. Further, at the tertiary level, only Mauritius has enrolment rates above 30% for both men and women. In line with other regions, women surpass men in tertiary enrolment rates, the report said.
Looking at Political Empowerment, the report found that Sub-Saharan Africa ranks fifth, with a score of 22.2% – a 12.4 percentage point improvement since 2006. At the launch ofthe index, the region scored zero for years with female head of state; by 2025, parity in this indicator has reached 3.2%.