Iceland Finest Nation to Stay for Gender Equality

For a lot of, Iceland conjures up pictures of erupting volcanoes, dramatic glaciers, scorching springs, and eerie black sand seashores, however for all its pure magnificence, the nation can also be a champion of girls’s rights. In truth, the small island nation affords the highest quality of life and protections for girls on this planet, in response to a brand new report by Forbes, which thought of a number of prestigious rankings for 2024, such because the World Peace Index, the World Gender Hole, and the World Happiness Report.

“It [Iceland] has been probably the most constantly gender-equal nation on this planet for the final 15 years in response to the GGG [Global Gender Gap], and it is the one nation to ever rating larger than 90 p.c on this report,” the research says.

The Land of Hearth and Ice can also be the highest world peace chief, a title it has upheld for the reason that creation of the World Peace Index in 2009. The nation additionally constantly ranks within the prime three for common happiness. Forbes notes that Iceland has had a feminine president for 25 of the final 50 years. At present, nearly half of its parliament members, or 30, are feminine. Because of this, the nation has applied insurance policies aimed toward stopping gender discrimination, comparable to a 2018 regulation that imposes day by day fines on corporations with 25 or extra staff who fail to pay equal wages for equal work.

Girls in Iceland and Canada obtain a mean of 13.9 years of education, the best on this planet (the worldwide common is 8.3), in response to Georgetown’s 2024 Girls, Peace, and Safety Index. Iceland ranked fourth on this survey, with excellent scores within the monetary inclusion and absence of authorized discrimination classes. 

Iceland additionally excels in maternal well being care. The nation grants 13 weeks of paid maternity go away and an extra 26 weeks to every mum or dad — all paid at 80 p.c.

Denmark is second on Forbes’ record of the perfect international locations for girls to stay in. The nation topped the Girls, Peace, and Safety Index and has the best rating for entry to justice. 

“Additionally it is one in every of simply 13 international locations the place all ladies have entry to a checking account,” Forbes factors out.

Norway is third with the best rating in maternity well being care and survival, in addition to feminine literacy. Finland, the happiest nation on this planet, is fourth, and Sweden is fifth. All remaining international locations within the prime ten are additionally in Europe.

Nevertheless, Nordic international locations have constantly excessive charges of intimate accomplice violence towards ladies, a phenomenon often known as the “Nordic paradox.”

Whereas the gender hole may be very slowly closing, “full parity stays past the attain of one other 5 generations,” Saadia Zahidi, the managing director of the World Financial Discussion board, writes within the preface of the World Gender Hole Index, the place the US ranked forty third.

You’ll be able to learn extra in regards to the findings on forbes.com.