Sunday, 05 September 2010 16:11

SANAA, 27 Oct — The annual report of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index released on Tuesday said Yemen is the worst country in the world for women.  The report assesses counties on gender equality and how resources and employment are divided equally among men and women.  Iceland was voted the best country for women followed by Finland, Norway and Sweden.  At the bottom of the list were Muslim countries including Egypt (126), Iran (128), Turkey (129), Saudi Arabia (130), Pakistan (132) and Yemen (134).  The report said Yemen and other countries at the bottom part of the rankings displayed an “absolute decline in 2009 relative to their performance in 2008.”  The Global Gender Gap Report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four critical areas: 1. Economic participation and opportunity, 2. Educational attainment, 3. Political empowerment, 4. Health and survival.” WEF founder and Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab said “girls and women make up one half of the world’s population and without their engagement, empowerment and contribution, we cannot hope to achieve a rapid economic recovery nor effectively tackle global challenges such as climate change, food security and conflict.”