Study: T&T closing gender gap
KYLE JEREMIAH
T&T outperforms a number of developed nations in closing the gender gap, ranking 19th in a table of 130 countries, a survey by the World Economic Forum says.
The Global Gender Gap Index 2008 rankings examined four important areas of inequality between men and women, including economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment and health and survival.
The index also assessed countries on how well they divided their resources and opportunities among their male and female population.
Politics, education and the economy progressed globally, although a greater gap in the area of health has emerged.
T&T rose from 46th in 2007, scoring 72 per cent, indicating the gap between women and men that has been closed to date.
Norway topped the list with a score of 82.45 per cent.
Developed nations, including the United States, Belgium, Austria, Canada and Italy, failed to place in the top 20 of the index.
It was only last week in the Senate that a private motion on equal opportunities was debated.
Response
Independent Senator Gail Merhair said yesterday that it was a major achievement for T&T and urged Government, non-governmental organisations and other stake-holders to continue to work in order to bridge the gap between men and women.
While conceding that there were opportunities for both genders in the country, Merhair said T&T had a long way to go.
Had the report focussed on the mental health of battered and abused women, Merhair added, T&T would have fallen short on the index.
Although citizens, particularly women, were health conscious—the question remained whether the country was able to provide proper health care if need be.
Merhair added that in terms of education, females were outperforming their male counterparts, particularly in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination.
She said gender inequality was not as rampant in T&T as in other parts of the world.
