The World Economic Forum recently released “The Global Gender Gap Report 2014”, which examines the gap between men and women in four essential categories: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. Out of 142 countries Lebanon ranked 135th on the Gender Gap Index, with a score of 0.592 (noting that the score measures the female-to-male ratio, so a score of 0.00 implies inequality, while 1.00 signifies equality).
In the Economic Participation and Opportunity category, Lebanon took the 133 position with a 0.432 score, where female labor force participation stood at 26% and legislators, senior officials and managers female-to-male ratio of 0.09.
Lebanon occupied the 106 position in the Educational Attainment category, with a score of 0.952. However, Lebanon ranked the 1st, with a score of 1.00 on female enrolment in secondary and tertiary education.
Lebanon performed the best on the Health and Survival category, ranking 62 out if 142, with a score of 0.975.
Finally, Lebanon was the second-to-last on the Political Empowerment sub-index, with a score of 0.010. This can be attributed to the 3% female parliamentarians and no female minister in the country.
Among the 13 Arab Countries included in the report, UAE was the 1st with a rank of 115, followed by Qatar (116) and Tunisia (123). In contrast, the three worst performers among the Arab countries were Lebanon, Syria with a rank of 139, and Yemen occupying the 142nd position.
Lebanon’s Score Card on the Gender Gap Index 2014
Rank | Score | |
Gender Gap Index | 135 | 0.592 |
ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION AND OPPORTUNITY | 133 | 0.432 |
Labor force participation | 135 | 0.34 |
Wage equality for similar work | 104 | 0.58 |
Estimated earned income | 134 | 0.27 |
Legislators, senior officials and managers | 118 | 0.09 |
Professional and technical workers | 70 | 0.93 |
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT | 106 | 0.952 |
Literacy rate | 103 | 0.92 |
Enrolment in primary education | 106 | 0.952 |
Enrolment in secondary education | 1 | 1 |
Enrolment in tertiary education | 1 | 1 |
HEALTH AND SURVIVAL | 62 | 0.975 |
Sex ratio at birth | 1 | 0.94 |
Healthy life expectancy | 76 | 1.04 |
POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT | 141 | 0.010 |
Women in parliament | 131 | 0.03 |
Women in ministerial positions | 138 | 0.00 |
Years with female head of state (last 50) | 64 | 0.00 |