The World Economic Forum has released the 19th edition of its Global Gender Gap Report for 2025, marking nearly two decades of annual assessments since 2006. This year’s report, launched in Egypt in collaboration with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, evaluates progress across 148 countries using the Global Gender Gap Index. The index measures gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Each dimension is scored based on the ratio of women’s to men’s performance, with a score of 1.0 indicating full parity. The 2025 report reveals that the global gender gap stands at 68.8%, a slight improvement from 68.4% in the previous year. Over the past two decades, 99% of the economies assessed have shown progress, though advancements have plateaued over the last five years. Regionally, Europe leads with 75.1% parity, while the Middle East and North Africa lag at 62.2%. Egypt ranks 139th out of 148 countries, achieving 62.5% parity, a marginal improvement from 62.9% in 2024. Iceland tops the index with 92.6% parity, followed by Finland and Norway. Despite notable gains in political empowerment and economic participation since 2006, full parity remains distant, with projections estimating 123 years to close the overall gender gap at the current pace.
— new from (بوابة الأهرام)
