Switzerland falls in WEF gender gap ranking

Switzerland lost points due to poor progress on professional participation and economic opportunities for women. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Switzerland is no longer among the top ten most gender-equal countries, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report.

Switzerland this year slipped from tenth to 13th place in the latest edition of WEF’s Global Gender Gap reportExternal link, which measures comparative opportunities offered to men and women in society.

Despite health-related improvements, the country dropped three places due to poor progress on professional participation and economic opportunities, education and political emancipation.

Iceland continued to dominate the WEF Gender Gap ranking this year; WEF said the Nordic country had closed more than 90% of its gender gap. It was followed in the table by Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Rwanda, Nicaragua and Namibia.

More globally, WEF said current efforts around the world to achieve gender equality were “stalling”. At the current rate it will take another 132 years to reach gender parity, the Geneva-based organisation said. This is a slight improvement from last year, but three decades longer than the situation in 2020, before the impact of Covid-19 on gender equality.

As leaders grapple with economic and political shocks such as the rising cost of living, the ongoing pandemic and the climate crisis, the risk of reversal in achieving gender equality is intensifying, said Saadia Zahidi, WEF’s managing director.

“Not only are millions of women and girls losing out on access and opportunity at present, this halt in progress towards parity is a catastrophe for the future of our economies, societies and communities. Accelerating parity must be a core part of the public and private agenda,” she said.