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30. Canada -

Canada improved by 0.5 percentage points since the last edition. Also, parity in wage equality for similar work and estimated earned income increased.

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29. Slovenia -

The Balkan nation ranked high in average number of years of education for women, absence of legal discrimination, and perception of community safety.

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28. Netherlands -

The Dutch government has undertaken many initiatives to support women's rights. They also recognized that women are severely underrepresented in Dutch politics.

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27. Chile -

The South American nation has improved their gender parity scores by at least 0.5 percentage points. This has mainly been in regard to workforce participation, leadership, and remuneration.

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26. Australia -

While Australia is one of the leading economies in the Pacific, women are unfortunately overrepresented as part-time workers in low-paid industries. They're also not being properly represented in leadership roles.

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25. Mozambique -

While Mozambique has a long way to go, like all countries, 83.3% of legal frameworks that promote, enforce, and monitor gender equality, with a focus on violence against women, are in place.

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24. Jamaica -

While Jamaica has made significant progress in gender equality, equal access to economic opportunity is still a distant dream. However, the Caribbean island did improve their parity scores in estimated earned income since 2022.

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23. Denmark -

While gender equality is a cornerstone in the Danish welfare state, Danish men still earn 12.7% more than women. Compared to other Nordic countries, gender equality is progressing more slowly in Denmark.

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22. Estonia -

Estonian women have on average much higher education than the global average. On top of that, the legal framework for gender equality is enshrined in the Estonian Constitution, which states in Article 12 that everyone is equal before the law, and no one should be discriminated against on the grounds of sex.

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21. Switzerland -

Compared to many countries, Switzerland was quite slow in giving women the right to vote, which only happened in 1971. When it comes to gender equality today, the Alpine country also doesn't rank among the top countries in terms of wages, with the gender gap having been narrowed by just 70%.

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20. South Africa -

When it comes to wages for similar work, South Africa registered one of the largest improvements in score. Also, the African nation closed more than 70% of the overall gender gap.

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19. Moldova -

In 2023, progress on gender equality in this Eastern European country stagnated. However, two areas increased with one point each: the labor market, and education. This means that the level of gender equality in these two sectors has improved.

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18. Spain -

In terms of the share of women in ministerial positions, Spain is one of 11 countries that have over 50% ministers who are women. In November 2023, it was announced that women will hold 12 of the 22 posts in the new government by recently reelected Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

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17. Albania -

When it comes to wages for similar work, Albania has closed the gender gap by 80%. On top of that, 12 of 17 cabinet-level positions are held by women in Prime Minister Edi Rama's government.

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16. Philippines -

The Philippines has achieved 79.1% gender parity, improving three positions and 0.88 percentage points since last year. With 26% women cabinet ministers, the Philippines has recovered in that area. On economic participation and opportunity, the Philippines maintains full parity for senior officer and technical workers, though women's income is just 71.6% that of men's.

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15. United Kingdom -

Ranked at number 15, one of the most recent major laws passed in the UK, in respect to women's rights, was the abolishment of tax on tampons. This means there's a zero rate of VAT applied on women's sanitary products.

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14. Costa Rica -

The Latin American country with the second-best gender gap index, Costa Rica has a gender gap of 21% in 2023. The overall score is an increase on the previous year, which shows a slight improvement towards gender equality.

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13. Latvia -

The Baltic nation views gender equality as a "horizontal principle" that must be integrated into all national services. In 2023, they scored 70.1% when it came to wages for similar work.

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12. Rwanda -

Rwanda is a recognized leader in gender equality and women's empowerment. Their parliament has the highest percentage of women in a single house parliament worldwide, with 61.3% of seats occupied by women.

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11. Ireland -

In 2023, Ireland fell two places, putting the Republic outside the top 10 for the first time ever. While the overall economic, social, and health gaps between men and women narrowed by 79.2%, the weakest score came in political empowerment, with more than half (53.5%) of ministerial roles filled by men.

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10. Belgium -

Belgium joined the top 10 for the first time in 2023, as it closed 79.6% of the overall gender gap. Most of the development is in politics, where it has reached full parity in ministerial positions and women in 42.7% of parliamentary seats.

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9. Lithuania -

With a parity score of 80.0%, Lithuania rose a 0.1 percentage point from last year. The Baltic nation's improvement can be attributed to the rise of women in parliamentary positions and electing a female prime minister, Ingrida Šimonytė, resulting in 46.6% parity in politics. In terms of education (98.9%) and health (98%), Lithuania edges towards full parity.

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8. Namibia -

The highest-ranking Sub-Saharan African country, Namibia has attained 80.2% gender parity. With 56% of technical workers and 43.6% of senior officers being women, economic participation and opportunity is at 78.4% parity. Namibia has also achieved 44.3% parity in political empowerment, having a female prime minister, Saara Kuugongelwa, since 2015.

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7. Nicaragua -

At 81.1% parity, Nicaragua is the highest-ranking Latin American country on the index. The nation has achieved gender parity on educational attainment and has been standing at 97.8% parity on the health and survival subindex. When it comes to women in ministerial and parliamentary positions, the number has been surpassing the 50% mark in recent years.

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6. Germany -

Climbing four rankings since last year, Germany registered an additional 1.4 percentage points for a score of 81.5%. This is mainly due to the increase of women in parliamentary and ministerial positions, which have boosted the political empowerment subindex (63.4%) by 8.4 percentage points since 2022. On health and survival, Germany is at 97.2% parity.

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5. Sweden -

Maintaining its rank since the last edition, Sweden has closed 81.5% of the gender gap. Political empowerment is at 50.3%, and economic participation and opportunity is at 79.5% parity. When it comes to parity in health and survival, that figure is at 96.3%.

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4. New Zealand -

In the last five years, New Zealand has gained more than five percentage points to close 85.6% of the overall gender gap. With parity in parliamentary positions, and a female head of state for 16 of the last 50 years, New Zealand has the world's third-highest level of parity in political empowerment. The nation has also bridged the gender divide across all levels of education and literacy rates.

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3. Finland -

The first European country to grant women the right to vote in 1906, Finland registered 86.3% parity in the 2023 edition. The recent tenure of a female head of state, Sanna Marin, and parity in ministerial positions boosts parity on political empowerment to 70%. On the other hand, like several other high-income economies, the healthy life expectancy of women declined by almost 1.5 years since 2006, partly widening the present gender gap on health and survival (97%).

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2. Norway -

The first wave of feminism in Norway began in the 1840s, and many waves have since followed, paving the way for rights for women in the Scandinavian country. Progress towards gender parity has been steady, resulting in a gender parity score of 87.9%. A major part of the nation's improvement can be ascribed to its achievements on political empowerment (score 76.5%), which has increased by 27.1 percentage points since 2006. Women now assume 50% of the ministerial positions and 46.2% of parliamentary positions in the nation.

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1. Iceland -

For the 14th year running, Iceland takes the top position at 91.2%. It also continues to be the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap. But while the North Atlantic island is leading the way in gender equality, its 2023 women's strike shows Iceland and the world still have a ways to go.

Sources: (World Economic Forum) 

See also: The most peaceful countries to live in

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