Spain Achieves Record Gender Parity, Ranks Among Top 10 Globally

The Gender Gap Index, now in its 18th edition, evaluates 146 countries. The global gender gap in 2024 stands at 68.6%, showing a marginal improvement of 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. The slow pace of progress suggests that achieving full parity will take 134 years or approximately five generations.

Spain has secured its position among the top 10 countries for gender parity for the third time since 2006, reaching an unprecedented score of 79.7%. This marks a 0.7 percentage point increase from 2023, according to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report released on Wednesday. The gender gap percentage indicates the extent of equality, with 100% representing complete parity. Since the last assessment, Spain has ascended eight spots in the rankings. Spain exceeds global and regional averages in all categories except Health and Survival.

In the Economic Participation and Opportunity category, Spain has achieved a 73.2% economic parity rate over the past seven years. Notably, parity among professional and technical female workers stands at 100%. However, the female labor force participation rate has sharply declined from 69.2% in 2021 to 53.2%. The report highlights the need to enhance women’s representation in senior leadership roles (53.2%) and to address income parity, as women currently earn two-thirds of what men earn for similar work. Additionally, men occupy twice as many senior management positions compared to women.

Spain has nearly closed the gender gap in Educational Achievement, with minor disparities remaining in literacy. Despite never having had a female head of state, Spain has reduced its Political Empowerment gap to 49.4%, achieving total parity at the ministerial level (100%) and increased parity at the parliamentary level (79.5%, up from 73.6% in 2023).

Globally, Europe continues to lead in gender parity, with seven out of the top 10 positions occupied by European countries. Besides Iceland, which holds the top spot, other high-ranking European countries include Finland (2nd, 87.5%), Norway (3rd, 87.5%), Sweden (5th, 81.6%), Germany (7th, 81%), Ireland (9th, 80.2%), and Spain (10th, 79.7%). New Zealand, from East Asia and the Pacific, ranks 4th with 83.5%.

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