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GENDER EQUALITY

Swedes world’s most keen on gender equality

Sweden has come out on top in a new world ranking of attitudes towards gender equality.

Swedes world's most keen on gender equality
Photo: Imagebank Sweden
Pollsters YouGov quizzed people from 24 countries in a survey published on Thursday, and found, perhaps unsurprisingly in the Nordic country famous for its gender equality, that it was the Swedes who were most progressive when it came to their approach to gender. 
 
“Not only do Swedish people have the most progressive attitudes to gender equality worldwide, there is virtually no gap between the views of men and women,” YouGov noted. 
 
Finland and Denmark finished in second and third place respectively, with Britain and the US ranked seventh and ninth.
 
 
The research was carried out by offering a series of statements to which respondents could agree or disagree. 
 
Several of the statements were conservative, such as 'it is unattractive for women to express strong opinions in public', while others were more progressive, such as 'creating more opportunity for women should be one of the world's top concerns' and 'women and men should generally get equal pay'.
 
The survey found that countries in the Middle East saw huge differences from the global averages. For example, 74 percent of respondents from the area agreed that “a wife's first role is to look after her husband”.
 
It also noted that there is a significant relationship between gender equality attitudes and a country's GDP per capita. One exception, however, was in the US, which has seven times as much wealth per person as China, but was only marginally more progressive in gender attitudes. 
 
Sweden's score reflects its impressive ranking in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, where it is placed fourth after Iceland, Finland, and Norway. The index measures gender inequalities in health, education, economics and politics.