Bahrain gender equality high...

MANAMA: Bahrain is above the Middle East and North African average in terms of gender equality, and far above its neighbour Saudi Arabia.

This is made apparent by the Gender Equality Index (GEI) 2012, published by Social Watch on the eve of Women’s International Day which falls on Thursday.

The annual index measures gaps between women and men in education, economic and political empowerment. It is an average of inequalities in the three fields.

In literacy, it examines the gender gap in enrolment at all levels; economic participation computes gaps in income and employment and empowerment computes gaps in highly qualified jobs, parliament and senior executive positions. Social Watch measures gaps between women and men, not their well-being. Thus, a country where young men and women have equal access to university education receives a value of 100 on this indicator.

Similarly, a country where boys and girls are barred from completing primary education will also get 100.

This does not mean the quality of education in both cases is the same. The index establishes that in both cases girls are not less educated than boys.

Bahrain’s 54 points rank it among those countries with very low GEI but far above the Middle East and North African average (43) and in a better condition than Saudi Arabia (37), although below Qatar (60). The UAE got 63 and Kuwait 62. The countries in worst condition in the region are Morocco (40), Saudi Arabia and Yemen, also on the world’s bottom in gender inequality, with 24.

The five levels based on which the index measures gaps are critical; very low; low; medium; and acceptable. No country has reached 90 or more, meaning that no country has yet reached the acceptable level.

The only field in which Bahrain has reached an acceptable value is education (97), while in empowerment and economic participation, its performance is much less praiseworthy:

30 and 35 respectively, both critical.

On the global level, Norway got 89, Finland (88) and Iceland (87), which places them as countries with a medium GEI. Of 154 nations measured, five in the worst situation are Congo (29), Niger (26), Chad (25), Yemen (24) and Afghanistan (15).

For methodology and sources, see http://www.socialwatch.org/ node/14365.