Womens empowerment: measuring the global gender gap.

This study is a first attempt by the World Economic Forum to assess the current size of the gender gap by measuring the extent to which women in 58 countries have achieved equality with men in five critical areas: economic participation economic opportunity political empowerment educational attainment and health and well-being. Countries that do not capitalize on the full potential of one half of their societies are misallocating their human resources and undermining their competitive potential. Consolidating publicly available data from international organizations national statistics and unique survey data from the World Economic Forums Executive Opinion Survey the study assesses the status accorded to women in a broad range of countries. (excerpt)