}

Monday, October 18, 2010

NZ still number 5

Last week, the Global Economic Forum released their “Global Gender Gap Report 2010”, the fifth such annual report. New Zealand again ranked fifth, as it has since 2007 (in 2006, New Zealand was ranked 7th).

The report looks at health outcomes between women and men, the gap on educational attainment, the gap on economic participation and the political empowerment gap. Countries receive a score based on the approximate percentage of the gender gap the country has closed. New Zealand had a score of 78.1%, down slightly from 78.8% in 2009.

Among countries I typically write about, Canada was at 20 (up from 25 in 2009), Australia was 23 (down from 20 in 2009), the United Kingdom was at 15 (same as 2009) and the United States finally entered the top 20, at 19 (up from 31 in 2009).

Not surprisingly, much of the American newsmedia’s attention was on the improvement of the US. For example, Salon.com headlined their story: “U.S. finally enters top gender equality ranking.”

Studies like this give countries—and interested people—a way to compare and contrast countries’ performance on certain key issues, things that can be improved. I’m pleased to see New Zealand continue to do well, though it still has room to improve, of course.

The main reason I’m posting about this, though, isn’t just that I posted about it last year, but also because with all my criticism of governments and politicians, it’s good to have something positive to say. So, well done to New Zealand for continuing to do well, and to the US for greatly improving their ranking. Now, get back to work!

Tip o' the Hat to Roger Green for the link to the Salon article.

2 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

I especially agree with your last two sentences.

Arthur Schenck said...

You and I agree on the sentiment behind that—we should explore that more in the future, I think.