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SA does well in gender gap study
Beauregard Tromp, Pretoria News
May 20, 2005

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=667&fArticleId=2527420

South Africa has scored above developed countries like Japan and Italy in the first ever study to measure the global gender gap.

The only other African country to be surveyed, Zimbabwe, also scored well, beating developed countries like Italy, Malta and Greece.

The study by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) aimed to measure how well women in 58 countries have achieved equality with men in five areas: economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well-being.

Countries were selected from all the regions of the world, though a lack of data automatically omitted most countries.

"Countries that do not fully take advantage of half of the talent in their population are misallocating their human resources and thus undermining their competitive potential ," said WEF economist Saadia Zahidi.

The report did not take all issues affecting women into account, with aspects like violence against women, for instance, not being included because they are hard to quantify.

Shiela Meintjes, prominent gender activist and former South African commissioner on gender equality, said she found it unbelievable that Zimbabwe could rank above Italy.

Zimbabwe was ranked 42nd with Italy coming in at 50 and South Africa at 36.

Meintjes praised the South African government for providing health and education to previously disadvantaged people, but pointed out that women were again at the bottom of the pile.

"If they give a strong rating to politics then we would do incredibly well," she said, but added the same could not be said for economic equality.

"The levels of inequality have grown steadily between all race groups. We are seeing the consolidation of the elite and increasing levels of poverty, affecting women in particular," Meintjes said.

Topping the list of those which have done most to close the gender gap are the five Nordic countries: Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland.

Although Sweden was ranked first, the report mentioned concern about the "prevalence" of gender-related violence.

Canada and Australia rank seventh and tenth respectively and China 33rd.

Many developed countries like Switzerland, Malta, Italy and Greece scored below Latin American countries, with South Africa only two places lower than Switzerland in the rankings.

The United States ranks seventeenth, largely due to its below-par
performance in the health and well-being sector.

Although the US allows women 12 weeks of maternity leave, this is unpaid.

The study suggested this was why 49% of women in high-ranking managerial positions are childless, compared to only 19% of their male counterparts.

Muslim nations occupy the bottom of the table with Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt in the last four positions.

The report said changing perceptions on gender equality was "grindingly slow", with the overall picture still disheartening. Practices oppressing women include:

Rape is not considered a crime in many parts of the world and violence against women even in highly developed countries are considered routine and often condoned.

Female prostitution and sexual slavery are often the fate of young, poor women.

In some parts of the world, genetic testing is done on pregnant women so that females can be aborted and in other countries, female babies are buried alive.

Forced marriage and bride-burning still occurs in Asia.

In Africa, a woman is 180 times more likely to die of complications in giving birth than a woman in Western Europe.

Women represent more than two-thirds of the world's illiterate people.

In the United States 90% of HIV/Aids victims under 20 are girls.

Worldwide, women's earnings average less than 78% of the wages given to men for the same work.

Each year an estimated 2-million girls between the ages of four and eight are subjected to female genital mutilation.

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