According to the Global Gender Gap Index: Turkey, which has fallen five places this year, ranks 129th out of 146 countries. Turkey, classified under the “Eurasia and Central Asia” category, came last among the countries in this region. Iceland, once again, tops the list.
The global gender gap score in 2023 for all 146 countries included in this edition stands at 68.4% closed. Considering the constant sample of 145 countries covered in both the 2022 and 2023 editions, the overall score changed from 68.1% to 68.4%, an improvement of 0.3 percentage points compared to last year’s edition.
When considering the 102 countries covered continuously from 2006 to 2023, the gap is 68.6% closed in 2023, recovering to the level reported in the 2020 edition and advancing by a modest 4.1 percentage points since the first edition of the report in 2006. At the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to reach full parity.
While the global parity score has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the overall rate of change has slowed down significantly. Even reverting back to the time horizon of 100 years to parity projected in the 2020 edition would require a significant acceleration of progress.
According to the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index no country has yet achieved full gender parity, although the top nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap. For the 14th year running, Iceland (91.2%) takes the top position. It also continues to be the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.
The global top five is completed by three other Nordic countries – Norway (87.9%, 2nd), Finland (86.3%, 3rd) and Sweden (81.5%, 5th) – with one country from East Asia and the Pacific – New Zealand (85.6%, 4th) – ranked 4th. Additionally, from Europe, Germany (81.5%) moves up to 6th place (from 10th), Lithuania (80.0.%) returns to the top 10 economies, taking 9th place, and Belgium (79.6%) joins the top 10 for the first time in 10th place.
How is Turkey’s performance?
According to the Global Gender Gap Index, Turkey ranks 129th out of 146 countries. Turkey is classified under the “Eurasia and Central Asia” category and ranks last among the countries in this region.
Based on the index, which measures the status of women in four main areas, Turkey ranks 133rd in “economic participation and opportunity,” 99th in education level, 100th in “health and survival,” and 118th in terms of political empowerment.
In terms of the number of women in the parliament, Turkey ranks 110th, and with a 6% representation of women in ministerial positions, it ranks 134th. The WEF report states that the representation of women in local governments in Turkey is 10.1%.
Turkey ranks 130th in female labor force participation, 91st in equal pay for the same work, 128th in estimated earned income, and 119th in terms of women holding managerial positions.
In terms of literacy rate, Turkey ranks 100th, 80th in primary school enrollment, 107th in secondary school enrollment, and 106th in higher education. Turkey also ranks 108th in healthy life expectancy.
You can read the full report here.