Women to Wait 202 Years For Economic Equality

The global gender pay gap will take another 202 years to close, World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its annual report Tuesday.

RELATED: 

Japanese Medical Universities Favoring Men 'Betrayed' Japanese Women

“The overall picture is that gender equality has stalled. The future of our labour market may not be as equal as the trajectory we thought we were on,” said Saadia Zahidi, WEF director of social and economic agendas.

Although economic parity has narrowed since 2017, which estimated a 217-year time frame, women from around the world continue to receive only 63 percent of the salaries earned by their male counterparts. Arabic women in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq experience further discrimination, earning a mere 30 percent of that paid to men in their profession.

The Global Gender Gap Report said, “In the workplace, women still encounter significant obstacles in taking on managerial or senior official roles. When we consider only managers for the subset of countries for which recent data are available, just about 34% of global managers are women.”

The gap widens in the political sphere with only 17 countries showing females occupying places of power equal to male representation.

The study said, "Only 23% of the political gap — unchanged since last year — has been closed, and no country has yet fully closed political empowerment gaps.

“When it comes to political and economic leadership, the world still has a long way to go. Across the 149 countries assessed ... on average, just 18% of ministers and 24% of parliamentarians globally are women,” said the report, estimating 107 years to close the disparity.

WEF Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab, said, “The equal contribution of women and men in this process of deep economic and societal transformation is critical. More than ever, societies cannot afford to lose out on the skills, ideas and perspectives of half of humanity."