U.S. falls to 28th on global gender equality list
SAN FRANCISCO—The United States fell to 28th place on a yearly list of the world's most and least equal countries for men and women, behind countries including Iceland, Rwanda and Germany.
America fell out of the top 20 on this year's World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap report, eight places down from last year. Its overall score was .74, with 1.00 being total equality between men and women and 0 being total inequality.
The drop is mostly due to U.S. wage similarity for similar jobs dropping and fewer women in high government positions.
The most equal country in the world for women was Iceland, the report found. It's been in the top slot for seven years in a row. Its score was .88.
Norway, Finland, Sweden and Ireland finished out the top five list. Rwanda was sixth and Philippines, 7.
The least equal country in the world for women, ranking 145th, was Yemen. In that Middle Eastern nation, only 55% of women can read and only 6% attend college. There are no women in the Yemeni equivalent of Congress.
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The U.S. numbers aren't surprising, said Kim Parker, director of social trends research at the non-partisan Pew Research Center in Washington D.C.
"We have not been at the leading edge internationally of female representation in top leadership positions nor in gender pay equity," she said.
The report, which looks at data from 145 countries, put the United States 74th in terms of equal pay for equal work.
Research shows that's most affected by occupational segregation, with women filling more lower-wage administrative jobs than the mean, and the fact that women work fewer hours than men overall, said Parker.
Implicit bias
Overt discrimination against women is less of an issue than in the past, but more implicit bias still hampers women in the workplace, said Catherine Hill, director of research for the American Association of University Women, which has studied women in the workplace.
She cited a paper that found when the exact same resume was sent to university faculty, the person listed as John was more likely to be hired, offered a bigger salary and more likely to be mentored than the one listed as Jennifer.
The professors making the judgements "are smart people who don’t see themselves as biased but in truth, implicit bias is creeping into their decisions," Hill said.
Caring for children is another area where the U.S. lags.
Nations that offer government-supported child care and generous time off to care for family, such as the Nordic countries, see less economic damage to women's overall earning power due to having children.
"Our survey data shows very clearly that women are much more likely than men to experience major career interruptions related to family caregiving. And working mothers are much more likely than working fathers to say that being a working parent has made it harder for them to get ahead in their job or career," said Parker of the Pew Research Center.
This is shifting, she said. "Gender roles are definitely changing, as men are taking on more responsibilities at home in terms of child care and housework. So we will have to keep watching these trends."
College educated
A bright spot was education and women's health. Women in the United States are overall more likely to complete high school and college than men. They also live longer, 71 years as compared to 68.
For political power, the United States ranked 81st in terms of the number of women in high government positions.
In general, "the United States does appear to be losing some ground," said Hill, and that hurts women.
"We're a wonderful democracy that provides great opportunities," she said. "Yet we don't have the family leave or child care support that other countries have."