RP ranks 6th in gender equality.

Here's an encouraging report taken from the December issue of the DBM Bulletin. In a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) of 115 countries worldwide, the Philippines came out number 6 and the only Asian country on the top 10 - that have managed to achieve equality between the sexes.

Not surprisingly, Scandinavian countries topped the gender equality survey with Sweden at the number 1 spot followed by Norway, Finland and Iceland. Germany, another European country is at fifth place while powerful countries like Great Britain and the United States rank ninth and 22nd, respectively. On the other hand, two countries with biggest gender gaps are Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The survey measured the countries using four categories: economic, educational, political and health. On the average, according to the WEF, the countries surveyed had closed about 90 percent of the gender gap in education and health, but only 50 percent in economic participation and opportunity, and 15 percent in political empowerment. Sweden, the topnotcher is the only country that has managed to close the overall gender gap by more than 80 percent.