The global gender gap has closed at its fastest rate since the Covid-19 pandemic, but parity could be as much as 123 years away, a World Economic Forum report found.
WEF's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, released on Wednesday, revealed significant strides have been made to remove barriers to progress for women, but there is much work still to be done.
The annual study said the gender gap has now narrowed by 68.8 per cent, an improvement of 0.3 percentage points from 2024.
It marks the strongest progress since Covid-19 disrupted social and economic systems worldwide. Still, at the current rate, the report estimates that it will take 123 years to achieve full parity.
“At a time of heightened global economic uncertainty and a low growth outlook combined with technological and demographic change, advancing gender parity represents a key force for economic renewal," said Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the World Economic Forum.
"The evidence is clear. Economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative and more resilient economic progress.”
The report shows that women now surpass men in higher education enrolment globally, with female university attendance more than men by nearly 30 percentage points in some regions.
However, only 28.8 per cent of senior leadership roles are held by women.
Women make up 41.2 per cent of the global workforce, but they are mostly employed in lower-paying sectors, such as care and education, and are underrepresented in infrastructure, technology and leadership roles.
“Women's progress in leadership continues to decline. As the global economy transforms, AI accelerates, and countries look to combat stagnating growth, this leadership gap should set alarm bells ringing,” said Sue Duke, global head of public policy at LinkedIn.
“The varied experience and uniquely human skills that women bring to the leadership table are essential to unlocking the full promise of an AI-powered economy yet are being overlooked at exactly the moment they are needed most."
Iceland leads the way
Iceland remains the most gender-equal nation for the 16th year in a row, closing 92.6 per cent of its gender gap.
Other top performers include Finland, Norway, the UK and New Zealand. Meanwhile, Latin America and the Caribbean emerged as the fastest-improving region, advancing 8.6 percentage points since 2006.
Low and middle-income countries are also catching up. Ecuador, Mexico, Bangladesh and Ethiopia are among the fastest movers globally.
The report also warned that new global risks, such as trade fragmentation and uneven AI adoption, could reverse some of the progress.
Women in lower-income economies who moved into formal jobs through global trade may be most vulnerable to future economic shocks.
Women are 55.2 per cent more likely to take career breaks than men, and they also spend on average half a year more than men away from work, with caregiving responsibilities driving most of these breaks.
The 19th edition of the report, which covers 148 economies, assesses only gender gaps in outcomes for men and women and does not take into consideration the overall levels of resources and opportunities in a country.
The report found a "slight correlation between the current income levels of the countries covered and their gender gaps", with richer economies being slightly more gender equal.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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