GENEVA: The Philippines ranked ninth among 142 countries for gender equality in the workplace, according to a report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) yesterday.
The five Nordic countries, led by Iceland, remained the most gender-equal.
They were joined by Nicaragua, Rwanda, Ireland, the Philippines and Belgium in the top 10, while Yemen remained at the bottom of the chart for the ninth year in a row.
Meanwhile, the United States climbed three spots from last year to 20th, after narrowing its wage gap and hiking the number of women in parliamentary and ministerial level positions.
France catapulted from 45th to 16th place, also due to a narrowing wage gap but mainly thanks to increasing numbers of women in politics, including near-parity in the number of government ministers.
With 49 percent women ministers, France now has one of the highest ratios in the world.
Britain dropped eight spots to 26th place, amid changes in income estimates.
Among other large economies, Brazil stood at 71st place, Russia at 75th, China at 87th and India at 114, the report showed.
But the WEF report said that while women are rapidly closing the gender gap with men in areas like health and education, inequality at work is not expected to be erased until 2095.
The organization, which yearly gathers the global elite in the plush Swiss ski resort of Davos, said that the worldwide gender gap in the workplace had barely narrowed in the past nine years.
Philippine Star
