The US this year dropped further behind other countries in closing the gender gap among several measures, according to new data from the World Economic Forum.

The country ranked 43rd in gender equality out of 146 countries, down from 27th place last year, according to the WEF’s 17th annual Global Gender Gap report.

Overall, it will take 131 years to close the gender pay gap across the world economy, the report found, a marginal improvement from the previous estimate of 132 years. It’s still a delay of three decades compared to the WEF’s estimate from before the pandemic.

While the level of gender parity has regained the progress it lost during the pandemic, converging economic and political crises are creating an uneven landscape worldwide, the WEF said, with progress slowing down overall and AI posing an additional risk.

“While there have been encouraging signs of recovery to pre-pandemic levels, women continue to bear the brunt of the current cost of living crisis and labour market disruptions,” WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said in a press release. “An economic rebound requires the full power of creativity and diverse ideas and skills. We cannot afford to lose momentum on women’s economic participation and opportunity.”

In the US

Each year, the WEF publishes an annual Global Gender Gap which measures progress towards gender parity using a numeric index with four pillars: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

The US saw one of the largest drops among the 50 highest-ranked countries, with the WEF reporting a 2.1- percentage-point decline in its gender parity score. The country experienced the largest drop in its political empowerment rating — driven by the share of women ministers dropping to just 33%, as measured by the UN. The US has also never had a female head of state.

According to the WEF, health parity also worsened, while the US improved in wage equality for similar work and estimated earned income. The country has nearly closed the gender gap in terms of its literacy rate and enrollment in primary and higher education, but it lags behind in secondary education.

Coupled with the 0.2 percentage point decline in Canada's overall gender parity score, it would take 95 years to close the gender gap in North America given the current rate of progress, the report found.

Global gender parity

Overall, educational attainment saw the most improvement in 2023 – surpassing pre-pandemic levels – while the WEF warned that progress on political empowerment was stagnating and economic participation among women has worsened. For instance, the rate of women's participation in the labor force registered at the second-lowest level since the first WEF report in 2006.