The latest Global Gender Gap index saw the Philippines dropping three notches from 7th to 10th spot among 144 countries.
In its 2017 Global Gender Gap report released by the World Economic Forum on Nov. 1, the Philippines scored 0.790 in the overall global index on closing the gender gap. It received a 0.786 score in 2016.
The WEF blamed the country’s “worsening performance” on wage equality for its drop on the rankings.
But despite slipping three spots in terms of closing the gap on gender disparity, Philippines has maintained its position of being the “highest performer” in the East Asia and the Pacific region.
“The country also re-opens a Health and Survival gender gap for the first time since 2006, although the Educational Attainment gender gap remains fully closed,” it added.
Nordic countries continue to hold the top spots, while Iceland remains the world’s most gender-equal country for nine years as it closed nearly 88 percent of its gap.
Here are the top 10 countries of the 2017 Global Gender Gap Index: (1) Iceland, (2)
Norway, (3) Finland, (4) Rwanda, (5) Sweden, (6) Nicaragua, (7) Slovenia (8) Ireland, (9) New Zealand and (10) Philippines
Meanwhile, among the G20 group of countries, France had the highest progress as it placed 11th, followed by Germany (12), United Kingdom (15), Canada (16), South Africa (19), and Argentina (34).
The United States, on the other hand, dropped four notches to 49.
China (100), India (108), Japan (114), Republic of Korea (118), Turkey (131) and Saudi Arabia (138) landed on the bottom part of the ranking.
The report said that 68 percent of the global gender gap has been closed overall. “This is a slight deterioration on 2016 and 2015, when the gap was 68.3% and 68.1%, respectively,” it added.
“In 2017 we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse. Gender equality is both a moral and economic imperative,” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of Education, Gender and Work, World Economic Forum.
“Some countries understand this and they are now seeing dividends from the proactive measures they have taken to address their gender gaps,” Zahidi added.
The 2017 Global Gender Report provides a “comprehensive overview of the current state of the global gender gap and of efforts and insights to close it.”
WEF measures the progress of countries towards gender parity through four thematic dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.