Giving Compass' Take:

• A report from the World Economic Forum discusses how long it will take various regions of the world to reach gender equality, with Western Europe currently in the lead. 

• According to the report, North America is 151 years away from closing the gender gap. How can donors help address this issue? What is already being done? 

• Check out the Giving Compass Gender Equality Guide to learn more about how donors can take action. 

Gender equality is still about a century away for many women in the world, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Regions across the world have, on average, closed 68.6% of the gender gap, based on the findings of the report entitled "Global Gender Gap Report 2020," which has been published annually by the WEF since 2006.

"Projecting current trends into the future, the overall global gender gap will close in 99.5 years, on average, across the 107 countries covered continuously since the first edition of the report," the report stated.

The timeline for achieving gender equality, however, varies based on region.

Out of the eight regions identified in the report, Western Europe is the closest to achieving gender equality — 54 years from now. Meanwhile, North America is estimated to be 151 years away from closing the gender gap. East Asia and the Pacific appear to be struggling the most, as they are not being expected to reach gender equality for another 163 years.

Although the numbers seem daunting, Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the WEF, pointed out in the preface to the report that there is a road map to follow when it comes to reaching gender parity.

The report measured gender equality based on four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

This is how far away each of the eight regions in the report are from achieving gender equality:

  • Western Europe — 54 years
  • Latin America and the Caribbean — 59 years
  • South Asia — 71.5 years
  • Sub-Saharan Africa — 95 years
  • Eastern Europe and Central Asia — 107 years
  • The Middle East and North Africa — 140 years
  • North America — 151 years
  • East Asia and the Pacific — 163 years

Read the full article about gender equality by Brandon Wiggins at Global Citizen.