In 2006, the World Economic Forum launched a report that tracks different countries’ performance on dealing with historical gender gaps that exist between men and women. The report gives a score to a gap as a percentage of inequality existing between men and women. According to the overview on their website, the top three countries have closed 84% of the gender gaps while the lowest ranking country has closed only a little over 50% of its gender gap.
The report which covers 135 nations and over 93% of the world population examines the following critical areas;
1. Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
2. Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education
3. Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
4. Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio(Wiki)
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Egyptian Gender Gap, before and after the revolution
Egyptian women are among the most underprivileged women according to the report. Since the report was first published in 2006, Egypt has been ranked, 109 out of 135 in 2006. In 2007, it was ranked 120, in 2008 it was ranked 124, in 2009 it was ranked 126, in 2010 it was ranked 125, in 2011 it was ranked 123 and in 2012 it was ranked 126.
In my previous posts, I have gone in depth describing how women were involved in the ousting of the entrenched regime headed by Hosni Mubarak. Women who were in the forefront, just as men, were demanding equality in representation, economic equality, overhaul of the family law and lastly the freedom of expression- as women not as religious individuals by default.
After the revolution, the numbers show no significant improvement in the closing of the gender gaps. This means that their contribution to the change in the leadership did not translate to equal share of the core decision making in the economic and political spheres.