Malta climbed two places in this year’s Global Gender Gap Index carried out by the World Economic Forum, but still remained far behind the rest of the world and the European Union in particular, having been ranked 76th out of 128 countries surveyed for gender equality and 25th in the European Union.
On the surface, Malta was seen to have dropped five notches in the index but the number of countries surveyed in this year’s index has been increased from 115 to 128. As such, compared to other countries also assessed in 2006, Malta actually climbed two spots from 71st to 69th.
Overall, Malta was ranked 25th out of the EU27, with only Cyprus and Italy trailing Malta with respective rankings of 82nd and 84th. EU member states held 10 of the top 15 spots. Sweden and Finland occupied the first and third spots in the global index, while the seventh to 14th places were awarded to Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, the UK, Holland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Of the five main criteria used by the WEF to formulate the index, Malta fared worst in the economic participation and opportunity index, having been ranked 99th out of the 128 countries analysed. While Malta’s growth rate in the area outstripped the EU average last year by 4.1 percent, a good deal of work is still obviously needed in the area.
In terms of wage equality for similar work, while Malta ranked an impressive 28th in the world, the country’s other performances in the sector were less than desirable – placing 108th in labour force participation and 81st in terms of both income and female inclusion in the areas of legislators, senior officials and managers. Malta was additionally ranked 79th for female inclusion in professional and technical workers.
Malta ranked far higher in female educational attainment in 31st place and 72nd in the health and survival portion of the index, with women having a 73 year life expectancy when compared with 70 years for Maltese males.
In the political empowerment gauge, Malta was ranked 54th – 98th for the number of women in the Maltese parliament and 44th in terms of the number of female ministers. The fact that Agatha Barbara served as Malta’s head of state also earned Malta points in gender equality, bringing Malta into 13th place in terms of the number of years in the last 50 with a female head of state. Over the 50-year range, Ms Barbara’s five-year run compared with 45 years having male Maltese heads of state.
The Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland took the first four of the top five spots while New Zealand came in fifth. At the other end of the scale, the worst performers were, in order, Yemen, Chad, Pakistan, Nepal and Saudi Arabia.