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LONDON: Women will have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and have equal representation in the workplace, research said, revealing the widest gap in almost a decade.
Women are paid and achieve just over half as much as men in the workplace, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said, reporting an economic gap of 58 per cent between the sexes.
“In 2017 we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse,” said Saadia Zahidi, WEF’s head of education, gender and work.
“Gender equality is both a moral and economic imperative. Some countries understand this and they are now seeing dividends from the proactive measures they have taken to address their gender gaps,” she added.
It is the second year in a row that the Swiss non-profit has recorded worsening economic inequality, which is calculated by measuring how many men and women participate in the labour force, their earned incomes and their job advancement.
Last year, WEF said women would achieve economic equality in 170 years, down from 118 years in 2015.
No country has closed the pay gap, WEF said, using data from institutions such as the International Labour Organisation, United Nations Development Programme and World Health Organisation.
Overall, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Rwanda and Sweden ranked highest among 144 nations measured on progress in equality in four areas: education, health and survival, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
Yemen, then Pakistan, Syria, Chad and Iran, ranked lowest.
Women fared much better in education, where equality could be reached within 13 years, WEF said, while closing the gap in political empowerment could take a further 99 years.
“Even though qualified women are coming out of the education system, many industries are failing to hire, retain and promote them, losing out on a wealth of capacity,” it said.
The report estimated that closing the pay gap could add an extra $250 billion to the GDP of Britain, $1,750bn to that of the US and $2.5 trillion to China’s GDP.
Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2017
Comments (7) Closed
Why? Why do we need to push women to work???
Tomorrow if the west says women should only work if absolutely necessary; we will do the same at once without wasting a minute.
Today in Pakistan it’s is twice as difficult for a man to get a job because if women given preference by Multinational companies. I’ve seen in my own company where a man, even hired on a lower salary position is supporting his family while 90% of women are working to spend money on cosmetics and bags. I know cause I’ve asked them myself.
After 217 years WEF will add 200 years more.
Being in the work force is as much of a right as it is a responsibility. Majority of the work force in Pakistan still works in agriculture, industry, mining and manual labor, devoid of modern facilities. Forcing gender equality into these physically straining jobs is ridiculous. There is plenty of female representation in jobs that are indoors and physically less challenging like nursing, medicine, pharmacy, teaching and office desk jobs in Pakistan. These standards on which Pakistan and few other countries are judged are based on modern facilities in developed countries.
When we speak about equality then why not more women shall take jobs reserved for men like rikshaw pulling, truck drivers, labour work in 45°C heat. Real equality is needed.
In Pakistan, women are already outperforming men in educational achievements.
being a beutiful women is biggest advantage in world. Everyone must watch redpill documentry to undertsatnd what are men going through compare to women on salary issues.
@Khalid Khan "Today in Pakistan.....even hired on a lower salary position is supporting his family while 90% of women are working to spend money on cosmetics and bags. I know cause I’ve asked them myself." you said it bro. you are not being EQUAL are you?