Gender inequality widening in Israel, study shows

World Economic Forum survey ranks Israel 65th out of 131 countries, and second to last in wage parity for similar work

After a brief respite in 2013, Israel slid down the charts in the World Economic Forum’s 2014 Gender Gap Report, falling 12 spots to number 65 overall.

Despite the slip, Israel remained atop the Middle East, with Kuwait the closest in the region, ranking 113 overall. Israel also rose to 49 from last year’s 57 (out of 136 countries) in “Political Empowerment” and jumped from 82 to 49 in “Educational Attainment.”

However, the country plummeted 34 spots to 90 in “Economic Participation and Opportunity,” one of the key indicators of the overall gender gap, and down to second to last (130) when it comes to “Wage equality for similar work,” according to a 2014 survey.

Perhaps explaining the disparity between “Educational Attainment” and “Economic Participation and Opportunity rankings,” the report surmised that in most of the high-ranking Middle Eastern economies, including Israel, while women may typically be more educated than men, they often aren’t integrated adequately into the economy and “decision-making in order to reap the benefits of this investment.”

Since the World Economic Forum began officially tracking gender inequality worldwide in 2006, Israel has dropped 30 spots, with its performance consistently sliding in all but three years.

Outside of Israel, Nordic nations led the world in promoting equality of the sexes, as they have for many years, with Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark occupying the top five spots.

The United States climbed three places to 20th, thanks to a narrowing wage gap and more women occupying political offices.

“Achieving gender equality is obviously necessary for economic reasons. Only those economies who have full access to all their talent will remain competitive and will prosper,” Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman, said in a statement.

Yemen, Pakistan and Chad remained at the bottom of the index, which ranks countries based on government statistics in four categories: health and survival, access to education, economic opportunity and political participation.