Good news, women: Only 170 more years until the gender gap fully closes!

A report released on Tuesday asserts it will take another 170 years until the world overcomes the gender gap

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published October 27, 2016 12:45AM (EDT)

Women participate in a demonstration against gender violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Women in Brazil organized protests condemning violence against women following the brutal gang rape of a woman on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro by suspected drug dealers. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) (AP)
Women participate in a demonstration against gender violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Women in Brazil organized protests condemning violence against women following the brutal gang rape of a woman on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro by suspected drug dealers. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) (AP)

The gender pay gap in economic opportunity and participation, education, health, and political activity may take 170 years to completely close, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report released on Tuesday.

The annual report, which surveyed 144 countries, analyzed the gender gap between men and women and concluded that women are on average worse off than men by 31.7 percent. While it found significant improvements in both health and education, women continue to chronically lag behind men in the areas of economic opportunity and political empowerment. As a result, it would take 170 years at our current rate of progress for the overall gender gap to be entirely overcome.

“Consistently, in the last three years, the rate of change is slowing down, and that’s starting to show up in economic gender parity numbers,” explained Saaladia Zahidi, head of employment and gender initiatives at the World Economic Forum, in a statement to Fortune.

One main reason she cites for this is that most nations don’t provide adequate financial support to care for young children and the elderly, thus forcing many women to stay home instead of working. The stagnation can also be partially attributed to automation eliminating traditionally female-centric jobs such as administrative and sales position, a factor exacerbated by women often not being as well-educated in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) where job opportunities are being created.

The nation with the highest rating in closing the gender gap was Iceland, followed by Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Rwanda. The United States fell 17 spots — to 45 due to — declining labor force participation among women, stagnation in female political participation, and methodological adjustments in how the survey is conducted.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

MORE FROM Matthew Rozsa


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Equal Pay Gender Equality Gender Gap Global Women's Rights Stem