(TheConservativeTimes.org) – The World Economic Forum has stated that this year’s election could potentially help close the currently large gender gap.
Worldwide gender inequality has narrowed over the past year, but it has done so at a slower pace, and it’s now estimated to take over one hundred and thirty years for it to close completely. The organization said that the upcoming election could help to narrow the gap by boosting women’s representation in politics.
“When so many people are going to polls around the world, and there’s so much change in political systems, there’s an opportunity here to leap forward,” Saadia Zahidi, managing director at WEF, said and added, “We cannot wait until 2158 for parity: the time for decisive action is now.”
The organization’s Global Gender Gap Report, which is used to measure gender inequality, is in its eighteenth year. It looks into gender-based gaps in four different areas, including economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and also political empowerment.
Political participation is one area that has shown a huge imbalance, but with half of the world’s population able to vote in elections this year, this could rebalance the political field.
Said Zahidi, “Very similar to how many industries are structured, there is this vertical gap that continues in political leadership levels.”
“With over sixty national elections this year and the largest global population in history set to vote, women’s political representation and the overall gender gap could be set to improve,” the report said.
The addition of females into politics, like Mexico introducing their first female president, could potentially pave the way for the gender gap to close, especially with the addition of more females in politics this year.
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