The good news: Germany is rapidly catching up with equality. For the first time, the Federal Republic is again among the top ten in the annual "Global Gender Gap Report" of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which examines gender equality in 153 countries. The bad news: In some areas, Germany is performing even worse than last year. In the first ranking in 2006 it was even in 5th place.
Worldwide, according to the study, it will be almost another hundred years before the project on equality is completed. "This is a time frame that we simply cannot accept in the globalized world," writes WEF founder Klaus Schwab. "On the eve of the 2020s, the goal of global and national leaders, as well as top managers, must be to build a fairer and more inclusive economy." Without the equal participation of women, economies could not grow for the benefit of all, nor could the United Nations' sustainability goals be achieved.
In most countries there is a measurable correlation between increasing political participation and more managerial positions in the economy. Only in Germany does this calculation not work out completely. Germany owes its rise to the top ten primarily to the greater political participation of women. In contrast, the economy looks comparatively bleak.
Here are the values in detail:
- Economy: Income differences, employment shares and shares in management positions are examined. Here, Germany has deteriorated: from 36th to 48th. Only 72.3 percent of the gender gap has been closed. Pay is particularly bad - and less than a third of the management and board positions are held by women. The WEF also advises extended parental leave for fathers that could contribute to gender equality.
- Education: The relationship between the sexes is examined in terms of rates of alpabeticization, schooling and higher education. According to the report, 97.2 percent of the gender gap has been closed here in Germany; however, there are still more men than women in secondary education.
- Health: The report examines the gender ratio of the born and the respective life expectancy. According to the report, gender equality has already been achieved here in Germany.
- Politics: The proportion of female MPs and parliamentarians as well as female heads of state over the past 50 years is examined. Women make up 40 percent of the ministerial squad in Germany, but still only just under 31 percent of parliamentarians. The fact that Germany has a Chancellor also contributes to the ranking.
Iceland has been the undisputed leader in the global ranking for eleven years, and has now closed the gap between men and women by almost 88 percent, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden. Nicaragua, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain and Rwanda are ahead of Germany. There is a need to catch up, particularly in politics, even though the number of female MPs has increased in many countries. However, women held only a quarter (25 percent) of the 35,127 parliamentary seats and only a good fifth (21 percent) of the 3,343 ministerial posts.
The proportion of women on the labor market is stagnating: just over half (55 percent) of adult women work, and more than three quarters (78 percent) of men. However, women do more than twice as much childcare and volunteering; In Germany women work unpaid 1.6 times longer than men in childcare and in the household.