In this article, we take a look at the 25 worst countries for gender equality. If you would like to skip our detailed analysis of the economic impact of gender inequality, you can directly go to the 5 Worst Countries for Gender Equality.
Gender Inequality - The Present Condition
The question of gender inequality has been a part of the international policymaking agenda for a long time, and yet, significant barriers continue to persist in the domain. According to data from UN Women, the world has over 796 million illiterate people, more than two-thirds of whom are women. Another estimate states that 60% of the world’s chronically hungry population consists of women and girls. According to WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, only 55% of adult women are a part of the labor force, compared with 78% of men. In addition, the global wage gap is still higher than 40%, whereas the worldwide income gap is more than 50%.
World Bank’s Women, Business, and The Law Report from 2022 concluded that globally, 2.4 billion women of working age did not have equal economic opportunity. Around 178 countries had legal barriers preventing women from full economic participation, while 95 countries did not provide equal salaries for equal work. The global gap between the expected lifetime earnings of men and women was estimated to be $172 trillion, more than two times the world’s annual GDP. Furthermore, data showed that women only received three-quarters of the total legal rights awarded to men. Out of the 190 countries whose data was surveyed by the WB report, only 12 showcased complete gender parity. Keeping this in view, you can also review the 30 Worst Countries for Women’s Rights.
The Economic Cost
As the topic of equal access to economic opportunities continues to be a significant point in national and international arenas, one has to look at why this matters. UN Women reports that in developing countries, women make up 43% of the agricultural labor force. If these women had access to the same resources as their male counterparts, they could increase their farming yield by up to 30%. This could raise the total agricultural output of these developing countries by 4%, reducing world hunger by 12%-17%. Thus, providing women access to similar resources could potentially offset a global chain of positive reactions.
A McKinsey & Company Global Insitute Report found that resolving the gender gap could increase global GDP by $12 trillion, which amounts to 11%. If the gap is removed entirely, the addition could be as high as $28 trillion. The Harvard Division of Continuing Education reported that companies with the highest number of women executives earned a 47% higher rate of return on their equity than companies with no women in executive positions. Moreover, companies that are in the top 25% in terms of gender diversity are likely to make 27% more profit than the national average for their industry. These statistics paint a promising picture for companies investing in gender outreach and equality achievement.
Who Is Leading The Change?
While every company can benefit from a more equal workforce, some have been more prominent in these efforts. Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) is a prime example of a company that has led the change. Half of the company’s global regions are led by women, as are all of its R&D innovation centers. In addition, 59% of its vice president or higher positions are occupied by female representatives. According to data by Forbes, more than 60% of the scientists, engineers, and technical professionals at Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) are women. This is far more than the global segment of STEM workers, of which only 29% are women, as reported by WEF’s 2023 Global Gender Gap Report. These are reasons why Forbes ranked Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) as the world’s second-best company for women.
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) is another company with significant women leadership, which accounts for 51% of its US executives and 47% of other global executives. The company runs female-focused projects like the Female Leadership Initiative, which works in countries across the globe. The program is aimed at equipping female leaders with a tailor-made development program to aid career advancements. Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) also offers several flexibility benefits to empower its women employees, examples of which include financial assistance for adoption, childcare discounts, and reduced-hour programs for people returning to work after parental leave. These features make Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) one of the top companies working to achieve a gender-equal workforce. You can also check out the 25 Most Gender and Income-Equal Countries in the World.
At the forefront of gender equality in the US is also a fashion retailer, namely Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS). In 2014, Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) became the first Fortune 500 company to announce that it pays equal wages to its male and female employees, something which was later confirmed by several third-party analyses. Two years later, the company received the Catalyst Award for its workplace inclusion of women and other diverse groups. Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) also runs the P.A.C.E./RISE program for the women in its supply chain in order to equip them with foundational life skills and technical training. By 2022, 1.3 million women and girls across 19 countries had participated in the program. Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) is aiming that by 2025, 100% of its strategic factories will participate in the project. You can also take a look at 20 States With the Smallest Gender Pay Gap in 2023.
As private-sector companies continue to invest in gender equality initiatives around the globe, several countries are still lagging far behind the globally intended targets and goals. Here are the 25 worst countries for gender equality in the world today.
25 Worst Countries for Gender Equality
25 Worst Countries for Gender Equality
Our Methodology
To organize this list of the 25 worst countries for gender equality, we consulted the Gender Inequality Index (GII) and the Gender Development Index (GDI) by the UNDP. The countries are listed in ascending order of their score on the GII, where a higher score indicates higher inequality. The closer a country’s score is to 1, the more gender unequal it is. The GDI values are added for further context and tie-breaking wherever required. These are calculated as a ratio between male and female HDI, and a higher value indicates more development equality. The farther a country’s GDI is from 1, the more development inequality it has. Countries have also been divided into five groups under the GDI, where group 5 indicates the countries furthest from gender parity. Data from the UN Women's Country Fact Sheets has been added to provide more insight.
Note that there are certain countries from whom the UNDP does not have the necessary data required to calculate these indices, so they might not be present on this list despite having issues of gender inequality.
Based on this methodology, here are the 25 worst countries for gender equality:
25 Worst Countries for Gender Equality
25. Cameroon
GII Score: 0.555
GDI Score: 0.900 (Group 4)
22.7% of Cameroon’s employed women population lives below the poverty line. 22% of women aged 15-49 reported that they had been subjected to intimate partner violence, while 29.8% of women aged 20-24 had been married before the age of 18. This is why Cameroon is one of the worst countries for gender equality in 2024.
24. Iraq
GII Score: 0.562
GDI Score: 0.786 (Group 5)
In Iraq, women and girls aged 10+ spend 24.1% of their time on unpaid domestic work, whereas men only spend 4.2%. The unemployment rate for women was 31%, compared to 10.3% for men. Furthermore, girls had a 20.7% out-of-school rate for primary and secondary education, while boys had only 6.8%.
23. Republic of Congo
GII Score: 0.572
GDI Score: 0.909 (Group 4)
In the Republic of Congo, 43.7% of the employed female population lives below the poverty line. 27.3% of women aged 20-24 were married before they turned 18. In addition to issues of gender equality, the country also struggles with a lack of data, as statistics were available for only 36.1% of the SDG indicators used to measure gender-based performance.
22. Madagascar
GII Score: 0.574
GDI Score: 0.945 (Group 3)
Madagascar is one of the worst countries for gender equality, as 40.3% of women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18. Women and girls aged above 10 spend 14.6% of their time on unpaid domestic work, whereas men only spend 2.8%. The current adolescent birth rate for women aged 15-19 is 150.8 per 1,000 women.
21. Burkina Faso
GII Score: 0.577
GDI Score: 0.881 (Group 5)
As of February 2021, only 6.3% of parliamentary seats in Burkina Faso were held by women, whereas the global average was 25.5%, as reported by the UN. 51.6% of women aged 20-24 had been married before they turned 18. UNICEF reports female genital mutilation to be one of the biggest gender-related issues in the country, which affects 56% of women aged 15 to 49.
20. Togo
GII Score: 0.578
GDI Score: 0.848 (Group 5)
In 2017, only 39.6% of the women in Togo reported that their needs for family planning had been satisfied by modern methods. Only 18.7% of the seats in the parliament were held by women, whereas 24.8% of women in the age bracket of 20-24 were married before the age of 18.
19. Malawi
GII Score: 0.579
GDI Score: 0.926 (Group 3)
The current adolescent birth rate for women aged 15-19 is 137.6 per 1,000 women in Malawi, which has increased from previous years. 42.1% of women in the age bracket of 20-24 were married before 18. 69.8% of employed women live before the international poverty line, whereas 86.2% of the female population is severely food insecure.
18. Gambia
GII Score: 0.585
GDI Score: 0.940 (Group 3)
In Gambia, women hold only 8.6% of parliamentary seats. In 2020, only 39.7% of women reported satisfaction with their access to modern family planning methods. 55.3% of the female population is food insecure, whereas 25.7% of women aged 20-24 were married before 18.
17. Mauritania
GII Score: 0.603
GDI Score: 0.874 (Group 5)
37% of Mauritanian women aged 20-24 married before turning 18. In 2015, only 30.4% of women reported satisfaction with the modern family planning methods available to them. UN Women had access to only 34.4% of the SDG indicators required to evaluate gender-based performance, emphasizing a massive data gap.
16. Papua New Guinea
GII Score: 0.604
GDI Score: 0.927 (Group 3)
Papua New Guinea is one of the worst countries for gender equality in the world. In 2018, 30.6% of women in the age bracket of 15-49 reported being subjected to intimate partner violence. Moreover, as of December 2020, data to evaluate gender-based performance was available for only 22.1% of SDG indicators, with significant gaps in labor market indicators.
15. Democratic Republic of Congo
GII Score: 0.605
GDI Score: 0.891 (Group 5)
Based on data from February 2021, women held only 12.8% of the seats in Parliament. In 2016, the adolescent birth rate was 109 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19. In 2018, only 33% of women felt their need for family planning had been satisfied, and 35.6% of women in the age bracket of 15-49 had been subjected to intimate partner violence.
14. Mali
GII Score: 0.607
GDI Score: 0.830 (Group 5)
In Mali, women and girls above the age of 15 spend 20.4% of their time on unpaid domestic work, whereas the value for men is only 2.5%. 53.7% of women between the ages of 20-24 were married before their 18th birthday. In 2017, the adolescent birth rate for women aged 15-19 was reported to be 164 per 1,000 women.
13. Niger
GII Score: 0.609
GDI Score: 0.826 (Group 5)
In Niger, 49.2% of girls are out-of-school at the primary and secondary levels. The country also has one of the world’s highest rates of underage marriages. 76.3% of the women aged 20-24 entered into the marriage contract before the age of 18. This makes Niger one of the countries with the most gender inequality in the world.
12. Guinea
GII Score: 0.609
GDI Score: 0.818 (Group 5)
Guinea is one of the world’s worst countries for gender equality due to a high rate of underage marriages: 46.5% of women aged 20-24 reported that they had been married before the age of 18. Only 15.9% of the seats in local governmental bodies are held by women, whereas in the national parliament, the ratio of women is 16.7%.
11. Côte d'Ivoire
GII Score: 0.612
GDI Score: 0.861 (Group 5)
Based on data from February 2021, women held only 11.4% of parliamentary seats in Côte d'Ivoire. 24.1% of employed women lived below the international poverty line, whereas 25.4% of girls were out of school at the primary and secondary levels. 27% of women in the age bracket of 20-24 were married before the age of 18.
10. Sierra Leone
GII Score: 0.613
GDI Score: 0.885 (Group 5)
In Sierra Leone, 48.3% of employed women live below the poverty line, whereas 90.3% of the female population is facing severe food insecurity. According to the UN Women database, data on political participation and gender-responsive institutions in Sierra Leone is severely lacking, preventing several gender-based criteria from being evaluated.
09. Haiti
GII Score: 0.621
GDI Score: 0.929 (Group 3)
The UN Women database only had data for 32.7% of gender-based SDG indicators from Haiti, with major gaps being present in the areas of political participation, economic participation, and educational attainment. However, the UNFPA has noted that women and girls are among those most impacted by the humanitarian crises currently going on in Haiti.
08. Guinea-Bissau
GII Score: 0.631
GDI Score: 0.862 (Group 5)
As of February 2021, women hold only 13.7% of the parliamentary seats in Guinea-Bissau. The UN Women database has access to just 27.9% of gender-based SDG indicators, one of the lowest values on this list. Available data points towards Guinea-Bissau being one of the world’s most gender-unequal countries.
07. Benin
GII Score: 0.649
GDI Score: 0.848 (Group 5)
In February 2021, 8.4% of the seats in Benin’s national parliament were held by women, whereas only 4.6% of the local government seats belonged to women representatives. The current adolescent birth rate for women aged 15-19 is 108 per 1,000 women. 30.6% of women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18.
06. Liberia
GII Score: 0.656
GDI Score: 0.860 (Group 5)
Women hold only 11% of the seats in the national parliament of Liberia. The adolescent birth rate is 128 per 1,000 women in the age bracket of 15-19. 47.3% of the employed female population lives below the poverty line. 85.5% of the total adult female population is unemployed. 35.9% of women aged 20-24 were married before they turned 18.
