Jordan’s ranking has slipped for a second consecutive year in an international report on gender equality.
In the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2010 Gender Gap Report, released Tuesday, Jordan was ranked 120th out of 134 countries, down from 113th in the 2009 index, 104th in 2008 and 2007, and 93rd in 2006.
The report uses four sub-indexes to measure gender inequality: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
The Kingdom’s seven-place drop in the international index, which is designed to measure gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities in individual countries independently of their level of development, reflects declines in the economic and political sub-indexes.
“While there have been notable gains in labour force participation of women in Jordan, new data show new estimates of earned income that place Jordan lower than previously reported,” the report said.
In terms of wage equality for similar work, Jordan’s score fell from 5.04 in 2009 to 4.62 this year, while the country’s female-to-male ratio of estimated earned income declined to 0.19 from 0.31. A declining number of women in ministerial positions also affected the Kingdom’s score, the report said, with the female-to-male ratio dropping from 0.17 to 0.07.
The WEF report noted, however, that “Jordan’s key strength continues to lie in the area of education where primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment rates of girls are higher than those of boys”.
Jordan ranked 10th among the 16 Middle Eastern countries ranked in the report, and 29th out of 35 lower middle income countries.
Israel scored best among regional countries, coming in 52nd overall, while Yemen stood at the very bottom of the global list at 134th. The UAE came out best among Arab countries at 103rd followed by Kuwait at 105th and Tunisia at 107th.
Northern European countries topped the global rankings with Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden making the top four, followed by New Zealand in fifth place.
Jordan Times