Gender Equity Index 2009

Social Watch released their 2009 Gender Equity Index yesterday.

The Gender Equity Index 2009 computed by Social Watch shows that the gender gap is not narrowing in most countries and a majority of the countries that show progress are those that were already comparatively better. The distance between the countries and regions in the better and worse relative situations has widened in the last years. In education and economic activity the situation of women has globally improved, but when it comes to empowerment some 15% of countries have regressed over the past year, and this has been so severe that the average global value of this indicator fell from 35% in 2008 to 34.5% in 2009.

According to this infographic, Canada and the US have shown a slight regression in gender equity since 2004.

That is very disheartening.