It has been 18 years since when the Global Gender Gap Report, released annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF), has been assessing the current state and evolution of gender parity worldwide. The four dimensions taken into consideration to make this evaluation are: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
This year’s Report indicates that the global gender gap has been closed only by 1%. The lack of meaningful progress is slowing down the attainment of gender parity, which will be possibly reached five generations beyond the target of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
With reference to the PAM regions, European countries have scored overall 75% in 2024. However, a huge distance is registered between the top and bottom rank within the region, which indicates broad intraregional disparities.
The Middle East and North Africa region ranks last among all others, with a gender parity score of 61.7%. Despite this result, the region has seen an general positive trajectory since 2006, advancing its gender gap score by 3.9%.
Gender equality is at the core of the establishment of the PAM Women Parliamentary Forum (WPF), launched in 2021, to serve as a platform to promote and advance the full political participation and socio-economic empowerment of women, for the benefit of all communities.
In this regard, the WPF works in collaboration with regional and international partners to address main issues related to gender equality, including the future developments and implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda; the empowerment of women affected by conflict, climate crisis and displacement, and the impact of AI and new and emerging technology on gender.
The 2nd Session of the WPF, will take place in December 2024 in France. In the meanwhile, an Expanded Advisory Board Coordination Meeting of the WPF will be held on 11-12 July 2024, on the occasion of the II edition of the PAM Marrakesh Economic Parliamentary Forum for the Euro-Mediterranean Region and Gulf.
The Advisory Board will engage in an in-depth reflection and exchange on the WPF strategic priorities for the biennium 2024-2026 and identify activities and initiatives to be implemented over the next months.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2024 is available at the following link:
https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2024/digest/ //