Albanian women were worse off in 2020 than in 2019, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2021.
The country fell five places to number 25. It scored 0.770 out of 1.
Top of the list was Iceland with 0.892 points followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden and Nambia. In last place was Afghanistan with 0.444 points, preceded by Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria.
Albania scored similar marks to Canada, Burundi, Barbados, and the UK.
It ranked 35th globally for women’s opportunity to engage in business, 42nd for education attainment, 30th for political empowerment,
Albania held one of the worst positions in the world for the health and survival of women, at number 147. This was due to high maternal mortality rates of 15 per 100,000 live births, the prevalence of gender-based violence, and a lack of comprehensive antenatal care.
The report found that Albania has closed 30% of the gender gap, but there is still a lot of work to be done. It falls behind the regional average of 73.5% of the gap closed. The country lost 8.2% percentage points for gender parity in the employment of professional and technical female workers.
Regionally, it came 4th after Lithuania, Seria and Latvia. Countries with the most work to do include Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Hungary.
The report’s authors stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has “has raised new barriers to building inclusive and prosperous economies and societies. Pre-existing gender gaps have amplified the crisis asymmetrically between men and women, even as women have been at the frontlines of managing the crisis as essential workers.” This was further exacerbated by them taking on the lions share of domestic work, therefore halting progress towards gender parity.
They add:
“Gender-sensitive recovery strategies will be critical in making up ground lost during 2020 to prevent long-term scarring in the labour market. Leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to build more resilient and gender-equal economies by investing in inclusive workplaces, creating more equitable care systems, advancing women’s rise to leadership positions, applying a gender lens to reskilling and redeployment, and embedding gender parity into the future of work.”
