Workforce Gender Equality Is Only 170 Short Years Away

The World Economic Forum has released its Global Gender Gap Report for 2016, and the results are predictably cheerful. Despite global efforts to close the gender pay gap and increase women's participation in the workforce, progress towards economic equality is actually slowing down. If current trends continue, the overall global economic gender gap will not close until 2186. In other words, no woman currently alive will reap the benefits.

Ranking 144 countries according to how well they employ women within the labour force, the Global Gender Gap Report assesses the rate of progress towards gender parity. Last year's report had been slightly more optimistic, predicting the economic gap between genders would narrow within 118 years. Unfortunately, it would appear that progress has reversed.

The World Economic Forum partly attributes the 52-year slowdown to "chronic imbalances in salaries and labour force participation," despite the fact that, in 95 countries, women attend university in equal or higher numbers than men. While women around the world are becoming far more educated, the report projects that the educational gap between men and women could close within a decade—but this won't translate into economic participation or success.

According to the report, women around the world are on average earning just over half of what men earn despite, on average, working longer hours. The global labour force participation of women is also dismally low: 54 percent of women are participating in the labour force, compared to 81 percent of men.

The number of women in management positions around the world has also remained low. There are only four countries in the OECD with equal numbers of male and female legislators, senior officials, and managers.

All of this means that labour forces around the world are less powerful than they could be. "The world is facing an acute misuse of talent by not acting faster to tackle gender inequality, which could put economic growth at risk and deprive economies of the opportunity to develop," the report reads.

It also draws attention to the potential impact of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution on women. It says that the slow rate of progress towards gender equality in the economic realm may mean women are disproportionately affected by new technologies replacing hands-on labour.

Of course, some countries are faring far better than others. Nordic nations including Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden lead the way. Australia is doing poorly, ranking 46th out of 144 countries. The United States comes in at 45th, while New Zealand just cracks the top 10 at ninth place.

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