Ghana is just under the half-way mark towards achieving gender equality, data from the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual gender survey shows.
The country, which is ranked 101 out of 142 countries, scored 0.66 on a scale of 0 and 1.50, with 0 representing inequality and 1.00 representing some form of equality.
The WEF looked at economic factors, health, education and political participation in 142 countries.
Poor women representation at parliamentary and ministerial level and the lack of a female president were among factors that contributed to the low score.
Ghana also scored poorly under the economic participation and opportunity category, with women earning less than men for similar jobs (0.59) and women underrepresented at professional and technical level (0.52). This is also the area that has taken the biggest hit in the year-on-year comparison since 2006.
The areas that scored the highest were healthy life expectancy (1.02) and enrollment in primary education (1.00).
Globally, increased access for women to politics and the workforce has narrowed the global gender gap in the past 10 years.
The WEF’s annual gender survey confirmed “sweeping changes” in many countries, with 105 becoming more equal since 2005, said its author.
Iceland tops the list for the sixth year running, with Yemen placed last. Rwanda came into the rankings for the first time and took seventh place, making it the highest-ranking African economy.
Just six nations – Sri Lanka, Mali, Croatia, Macedonia, Jordan and Tunisia – have seen their gender gap grow overall since 2005, the WEF said.
The Nordic states all topped the list, with Finland, Norway and Sweden following Iceland in the top five.
Social forces
Report author Saadia Zahidi said much of the progress on gender equality has come from more women entering politics and the workforce, she said.
She added: “While more women and more men have joined the workforce over the last decade, in 49 countries, more women than men entered the labour force.
“And in the case of politics, globally, there are now 26% more female parliamentarians and 50% more female ministers than 10 years ago. These are sweeping changes – for economies and national cultures.”
Ms Zahidi said countries often reach an improved status due to quotas and targets, for example imposing quotas at the stage of choosing candidates for election.
