The Philippines has ranked 17th among 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The report shows that the country’s ranking slipped by one notch from the previous spot.
But in Asia Pacific, the Philippines placed second next to New Zealand, ranking fourth globally.
Of the four indices, the Philippines ranked 18th in economic participation, 33rd in political empowerment, 34th in health and survival, and 39th in educational attainment.
The WEF report cited the country’s capability of closing gender gaps in educational attainment and health and survival.
The Philippines is one of 18 countries in the world that have closed at least 79.5 percent of economic participation and opportunity gaps.
“This result is due in part to the fact that the Philippines is one of the few countries that has closed at the same time its gender gap in senior roles, and in professional and technical roles,” the report added.
However, the WEF report said the Philippines should improve women’s participation in the labor market, as well as closing the income and wage gaps.
“Only 49.1 percent of women are in the job market, corresponding to a gap closure of just 65.3 percent on this indicator. Similarly, income and wage gaps persist. On average, 22 percent of the wage gap and 31 percent of the income gap have yet to close,” it said.
In terms of political empowerment, the report said only 36.2 percent of this gap has been closed as women only occupy 28 percent of the seats in the Congress and about 13 percent are holding minister positions.
The WEF said the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has pushed back gender parity, adding 36 years to close the gender gap globally.
It means it will now take 135.6 years to close the global gender gap, WEF said.