The Global Gender Gap

The World Economic Forum has released its 2008 gender gap report and ranked 130 countries on it. The gap index measures "gender-based inequalities on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria" and is "designed to measure gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities" (not absolute levels of available resources and opportunities). The index is therefore independent of a country's development level (here is the methodology).

• Northern Europeans once again lead the pack: Norway, Sweden, Finland. Must be that reddish brew of euro-socialism they add into their waterworks. Or as Usha quipped, "It's so bloody cold out there, they have nothing better to do than to fix their societies." 
• Gender gap correlates much less with a country's economic development rank, more with affirmative action and traditional culture (which can deal a fairer hand to women). For e.g., Philippines ranked 6, Sri Lanka 12, Lesotho 16, Mozambique 18, South Africa 22, Cuba 25, Namibia 30, Tanzania 38, while the US was 27, Israel 56, Italy 67, Singapore 84, Japan 98, and S. Arabia 128. 
• China ranked 57, far above India at 113 and Pakistan 127. Next time someone cites female prime ministers as evidence of women's high status in the subcontinent (vs., say, the US, which has never elected a female head of state), cite this study. No wonder more Indian women than men recoil at the idea of returning to India after living in the West.