報告：女性在政界仍落後於男性

Women still lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, a waste of talent given that their access to education and healthcare is nearly equal, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.

In its 2008 Global Gender Gap report, the think tank ranked Norway, Finland and Sweden as the countries with the greatest equality between the sexes, while Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen were the least equal.

Averaging 130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reached near-parity with their male peers in educational attainment, health and survival, in both rich and poor countries.

But economically, in terms of workforce participation and earning opportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gap between the sexes remains large.

"The world's women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but are nowhere to be found in terms of decision-making," said Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss-based think tank best known for its Davos summit held in January.

"Given that women have almost closed the gap with men on health and education, it is a waste of their talents if they are not catching up in economics and politics," she said.

The report uses United Nations and other data to weigh how evenly each country shares its resources and opportunities between men and women.

Outside the Nordic region, which traditionally scores well on measures of gender parity, New Zealand placed fifth, in part because of its female political empowerment including the tenure of Helen Clark as prime minister.

The Philippines, whose president is a woman, followed in sixth place, and Ireland, the Netherlands, and Latvia placed eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

The United States ranked 27th, ahead of its neighbor Canada for the first time since the gender gap report was launched three years ago. Canada fell 13 spots to 31st place.

Trinidad, Argentina and Cuba were rated highest among Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Lesotho was the top-rated African state in gender parity.

世界經濟論壇於本週三稱，雖然女性在受教育和醫療方面已與男性接近平等，但女性在高層政治和決策領域仍落後於男性，這對於她們的才能是一種浪費。

在該論壇發佈的“2008全球性別差異報告”中，挪威、芬蘭和瑞典被評爲性別平等度最高的國家，而沙特、乍得和也門是則性別差異最顯著的國家。

該報告通過計算130個國家的平均得分發現，無論在發達國家還是貧困國家，如今女性在受教育、醫療和生存方面所享受的權利都與男性基本相當。

但從就業和工作機遇等經濟維度和掌握要職等政治維度兩方面衡量，性別差異仍然很大。

世界經濟論壇的薩迪亞•扎西迪說：“如今全世界女性的受教育和健康水平已不亞於男性，但在高層決策領域女性仍然很少。”世界經濟論壇總部位於瑞士，每年1月份的“達沃斯論壇”就是由該智囊機構舉辦。

她說：“現在女性在健康和受教育方面的水平已接近於男性，但如果女性在經濟和政治領域無法與男性齊平，那是對她們才能的浪費。”

該報告主要根據聯合國及其它一些數據評估各國在資源和機會分配方面的性別差異。

北歐地區在性別平等度方面的得分向來較高，新西蘭名列第五，這一定程度上是因爲海倫•克蘭克擔任該國總理及其他一些女性任政界要職。

女性任總統的菲律賓位居第六；愛爾蘭、荷蘭和拉脫維亞分別位居第八、第九和第十位。

美國名列第27位，這是該報告發布三年來美國首次超過其鄰國加拿大。加拿大下跌13個榜位，跌至第31位。

特立尼達、阿根廷和古巴位居拉美和加勒比海地區前列，萊索托是非洲性別差異最小的國家。