Armenia falls in Gender Gap Report: Leads in Education but Poor in Health and Political Sectors

Armenia has fallen from its previous ranking in a recent report by the World Economic Forum titled “The Global Gender Gap Report – 2014.”

In 2014, Armenia ranked 103 with a score of 0.6622 out of 1, while last year Armenia was ranked at 94. In the “Economic Participation and Opportunity” index, Armenia has a ranking of 82 (0.6478), in “Educational Attainment” it is 31st (0.9996), while in “Health and Survival” it ranks dead last at 142 (0.9332), and in “Political Empowerment” it is 123rd (0.0680).

In the report, Russia was ranked at 75, Georgia at 85, Azerbaijan at 94, Turkey at 125, and Iran at 137. Yemen had the lowest ranking of 142 in the report.

Within its region of Europe and Central Asia, Armenia ranks second lowest overall, only ahead of Turkey, which is ranked at 125. The report states that 14 out of 20 countries with the lowest sex-ratio are from the latter region and Armenia is the lowest among them. Armenia’s female-to-male sex-ratio ranks lowest in the world, behind India, China, Azerbaijan, and Vietnam.

However, as the report also indicates, Armenia is second in the world in the enrollment and primary education indicator and is among the first five countries to provide women the right to vote back in 1918.

Armenia ranks 6th in professional and technical workers, in which females nearly double men in the field, however, regionally Armenia ranks quite low at 86, in the index for legislators, senior officials, and managers and 98th for women in ministerial positions.

Armenia’s sex-ratio in the labor force ranks at 91, with 56 females to 77 males, while in Azerbaijan there is significantly lower gap with 68 females to 73 males working (18th rank), and a similar ratio with Georgia with 60 females to 78 males in the labor force ranking at 78.

The estimated earned income in the gender pay gap ranks Armenia at 68, with women earning 59% of what men earn, while in Azerbaijan and Georgia women earn only 44% and 45% of what men do.

Armenia is ranked among the highest in the education index and leads the world in enrollment in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, however, it lacks significantly in the political sphere with its very low number of ministers and legislators, especially within its “lower-middle income” group.

Back in 2007, Armenia had a ranking of 71, and since then it has slowly fallen in its rankings to 102. Iceland, Finland, and Norway rank the highest in the 142 country list.