No country in world set to achieve gender equality by 2030

Report finds countries unable to reach 'last mile' on gender equality

No country in the world is set to achieve gender equality by 2030, a new report has found.

On Monday 3 June, the Equal Measures 2030 partnership released its inaugural Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Gender Index, a report which assessed the state of gender equality across 129 countries across the globe.

The Equal Measures 2030 is an independent civil society and a private sector-led partnership which advocates for gender equality.

The report, which covers approximately 95 per cent of the world's female population, discovered that "no country in the world has reached the 'last mile' on gender equality", claims the index.

Despite an international agreement to achieve gender equality by 2030, with only 11 years to go, 1.4bn girls and women are living in countries "failing on gender equality".

A further 1.4bn girls and women are living in countries that "barely pass" on the subject, the index states.

In 2015, 193 countries committed to achieving 17 SDGs by 2030, which included striving to end poverty, taking action against the climate crisis and achieving gender equality.

For the new report, the Equal Measures 2030 partnership marked the 129 countries from zero to 100 with regards to their efforts to achieve gender parity.

Countries were assessed based on their abilities to reach 51 targets in 14 of the aforementioned SDGs.

These targets included factors such as health, education, work, gender-based violence and representation in parliament.

The average score for the countries included in the study was 65.7 per cent, a score regarded as "poor" and barely a "passing grade".

No country achieved an "excellent" score of 90 or above.

However, Denmark came close, being given an overall score of 89.3.

The other countries featured in the top 10 in the index include Finland, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany, Canada, Ireland and Australia.

The countries which came out in the bottom 10 were Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Yemen, Congo, DR Congo and Chad.

The global index is being launched at the Women Deliver conference in Vancouver on Monday 3 June.

Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a speaker at the conference, described the report as "a wake-up call to the world".

"Many countries with the most limited resources are making huge strides in removing the barriers for girls and women... demonstrating that when it comes to gender equality, governments shouldn't have excuses for inaction," Gates added.

Alison Holder, director of Equal Measures 2030, said: "I don't see any countries taking the ambitious action needed to tackle intractable problems – even the best scoring countries."

Holder continued, saying she doesn't "see how naturally these problems will go away". "Even among the best scoring countries there are still massive problems," she added.