DUSHANBE, October 29, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Global Gender Gap Report 2014 , released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), ranks Tajikistan 102nd among 142 countries.

Tajikistan reportedly fell 1 places compared to the last year.  In The Global Gender Gap Report 2013 was on the 90th place.

The report says Tajikistan is the lowest performing country in the region on the secondary and tertiary education indicators.     

The Global Gender Gap Report 2014  emphasizes persisting gender gap divides across and within regions.  Based on the nine years of data available for the 111 countries that have been part of the report since its inception, the world has seen only a small improvement in equality for women in the workplace.

According to The Global Gender Gap Report 2014 , the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity now stands at 60% worldwide, having closed by 4% from 56% in 2006.

The report notes that the gender gap is narrowest in terms of health and survival with a gap standing at 96% globally, with 35 countries having closed the gap entirely.  Despite all this, it is the only subindex which declined over the course of the past nine year.  The educational attainment gap is the next narrowest, standing at 94% globally.  25 countries have reportedly closed the gap entirely.  While the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity lags stubbornly behind, the gap for political empowerment, the fourth pillar measured, remains wider still, standing at 21%, although this area has seen the most improvement since 2006.

This year’s findings show that Iceland continues to be at the top of the overall rankings in The Global Gender Gap Index for the sixth consecutive year.  Finland ranks in second position, and Norway holds the third place in the overall ranking.  Sweden remains in fourth position and Denmark gains three places and ranks this year at the fifth position. Northern European countries dominate the top 10 with Ireland in the eighth position and Belgium (10) Nicaragua (6), Rwanda (7) and Philippines (9) complete the top 10.

The index continues to track the strong correlation between a country’s gender gap and its national competitiveness.  Because women account for one-half of a country’s potential talent base, a nation’s competitiveness in the long term depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its women.

The Global Gender Gap Report was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. The report’s Gender Gap Index ranks countries according to their gender gaps, and their scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the inequality between women and men that has been closed. Information about gender imbalances to the advantage of women is explicitly prevented from affecting the score.

The report examines four critical areas of inequality between men and women in 130 economies around the globe, over 93% of the world’s population: economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment; educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education; political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures; and health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio.