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A woman draws a mural on a office window in Fitzrovia during International Women's Day on March 8, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. International Women's Day is annually held on March 8 to celebrate women's achievements throughout history and across nations.Getty Images
To measure the world's progress toward gender equality, the World Economic Forum (WEF) created the Global Gender Gap Index a decade ago.
The most recent report, published in November 2017, analyzes four main dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political representation. Looking at 144 countries, the WEF concludes that an average global gender gap of 32% remains, compared to 31.7% in 2016. Globally, the widest gaps between women and men exist in economic opportunity and political representation. Since 2016, 82 countries have improved their overall gender gap score.
One caveat with the data: When a country ranks very highly in one or two categories, it shoots to the top of the overall ranking. For example, Ireland - which makes the top 10 - ranked #1 in educational attainment, but #96 for health and survival.
In addition, as the BBC notes, the index measures women's position compared to men in their country, not to women in other places.
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The 10 countries with the narrowest gender gaps are below. (The United States does not make the cut.)
10. The Philippines — In 2017, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order that gives women free access to reproductive health information and services.
8. Ireland — Irish women have a high life expectancy, and women are more likely than men to achieve a higher-education degree.
But people are still fighting for abortion rights in Ireland, where the medical procedure is illegal. On Thursday, the Irish government approved an abortion referendum bill, and according to The Guardian, the legislation would grant unrestricted abortion access to citizens during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if it passes in May.
7. Slovenia — In this country, the maternal mortality rate is 9 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is low considering the global average of 216 deaths.
3. Finland — In 2017, the Gender Neutral Marriage Act took effect, allowing same-sex couples to adopt children and helping dismantle traditional gender roles.
2. Norway — In the 2013 national election, women occupied 39.6% of parliament seats. In local government, women have gained about one-third of the seats.
1. Iceland — For the past six years, Iceland has topped the WEF’s gender gap index. Today, every parent receives three months of paid leave. And in 2018, Iceland became the world's first country to make it illegal to pay men more than women for the same job.
In the past decade, Iceland has also elected two female prime ministers, including the current one: Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who pushed for equal pay.
