Decades to Parity: 134 Years Needed to Close the Global Gender Gap, Reveals 2024 WEF Report

There is a gender gap in all fields of human activity. Today, only 10% of the world’s heads of State are women. Women enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights available to men. The World Economic Forum in its annual report, published Wednesday, said that it will take 134 years to close the current gender gap.

Across all 146 countries in the index this year, the Global Gender Gap (GGP) stands at 68.5% closed. Considering the set of 101 countries continuously covered since 2006, the GGP has closed by 0.1 percentage point in 2023.” Among the 146 economies covered in the 2024
index, the Health and Survival gender gap has closed by 96%, the Educational Attainment
gap by 94.9%, the Economic Participation and Opportunity gap by 60.5%, and the Political
Empowerment gap by 22.5%,” is mentioned in the report. 

134 years – or five generations – to reach parity Image : World Economic Forum

The WEF report states, “The 2024 Global Gender Gap Index shows that while no country has achieved full gender parity, 97% of the economies included in this edition have closed more than 60% of their gap, compared to 85% in 2006.” Iceland has been leading the index for the last 15 years and remains the only country which has closed more than 90% of its gender gap.

It will take another 20 years to reach parity in educational attainment, 169 years to close the political empowerment gap, and 152 years to reach economic parity. The WEF report on the time to close the health and survival gap remains undefined.

Many regions are generations away from parity Image Credits: World Economic Forum

In a world facing increasingly complex challenges, gender parity gives women better life chances. Some 47 parliamentary chambers are holding elections and use gender quotas for candidates, in this bumper election year.

In the US, President Biden has selected Kamala Harris as his running mate for Vice presidency, while Mexico made history earlier this month by electing Claudia Sheinbaum as the first woman and first Jewish president. In Europe, the EU is headed by a female leader, Ursula von der Leyen. Earlier, Sheikh Hasina was reelected as prime minister of Bangladesh.

So, the changes are there, but the pace is slow, it will take about 134 years to close the GGG, according to the 2024 WEF report.

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Name	Portrait	Country	Office	Mandate start	Mandateend	Term length	Head of stateor government	Executiveor non-executive
Borjana Krišto		Bosnia and Herzegovina	Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers	25 January 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 141 days	Head of government
Christine Kangaloo		Trinidad and Tobago	President	20 March 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 86 days	Head of state
Dina Boluarte		Peru	President	7 December 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 190 days	Head of stateand government	Executive
Droupadi Murmu		India	President	25 July 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 325 days	Head of state
Evika Siliņa		Latvia	Prime Minister	15 September 2023	Incumbent	273 days	Head of government	Executive
Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa		Samoa	Prime Minister	24 May 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 21 days	Head of government	Executive
Giorgia Meloni		Italy	Prime Minister	22 October 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 236 days	Head of government	Executive
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova		North Macedonia	President	12 May 2024	Incumbent	33 days	Head of state
Hilda Heine		Marshall Islands	President	3 January 2024	Incumbent	163 days	Head of stateand government	Executive
Ingrida Šimonytė		Lithuania	Prime Minister	11 December 2020	Incumbent	3 years, 186 days	Head of government	Executive
Judith Suminwa		Democratic Republic of the Congo	Prime Minister	12 June 2024	Incumbent	2 days	Head of government
Kaja Kallas		Estonia	Prime Minister	26 January 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 140 days	Head of government	Executive
Katerina Sakellaropoulou		Greece	President	13 March 2020	Incumbent	4 years, 93 days	Head of state
Maia Sandu		Moldova	President	24 December 2020	Incumbent	3 years, 173 days	Head of state
Mette Frederiksen		Denmark	Prime Minister	27 June 2019	Incumbent	4 years, 353 days	Head of government	Executive
Mia Mottley		Barbados	Prime Minister	25 May 2018	Incumbent	6 years, 20 days	Head of government	Executive
Myriam Spiteri Debono		Malta	President	4 April 2024	Incumbent	71 days	Head of state
Nataša Pirc Musar		Slovenia	President	23 December 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 174 days	Head of state
Sahle-Work Zewde		Ethiopia	President	25 October 2018	Incumbent	5 years, 233 days	Head of state
Salome Zourabichvili		Georgia	President	16 December 2018	Incumbent	5 years, 181 days	Head of state
Samia Suluhu Hassan		Tanzania	President	19 March 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 87 days	Head of stateand government	Executive
Sandra Mason		Barbados	President	30 November 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 197 days	Head of state
Sheikh Hasina		Bangladesh	Prime Minister	6 January 2009	Incumbent	15 years, 160 days	Head of government	Executive
Sylvanie Burton		Dominica	President	2 October 2023	Incumbent	256 days	Head of state
Victoire Tomegah Dogbé		Togo	Prime Minister	28 September 2020	Incumbent	3 years, 260 days	Head of government	Executive[i]
Vjosa Osmani		Kosovo	President	4 April 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 71 days	Head of state
Xiomara Castro		Honduras	President	27 January 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 139 days	Head of stateand government	Executive
Zuzana Čaputová		Slovakia	President	15 June 2019	Incumbent	4 years, 365 days	Head of state