Lebanon is the eighth worst country for gender equality

Lebanon is the world’s eighth worst country in terms of gender equality and ranks 135th of the total 142 surveyed countries on the 2014 Gender Gap Index (9th report by the World Economic Forum-- WEF). Although Lebanese women are often considered privileged compared to women in other Arab countries because of liberties they presumably enjoy, the report noted that they are far behind in terms of political participation with Lebanon ranking 141st out of 142 countries.  In addition to political empowerment, the WEF report ranking was based on three main categories for women: participation in the labor force and opportunities available, educational attainment, health care and survival rate. As such, Lebanon was the eighth worst country in the world in terms of women participation in the workforce, and ninth worst in terms of income for women. Lebanon did much better in terms of health coming 62nd on the list.  However, Lebanon’s score on education were disappointing as it ranked 103rd for literacy rate and 128th for primary school enrolment and that is despite the fact that female literacy rate in Lebanon is 86% and primary school enrolment is 90%!
Source: The Daily Star 29 October 2014