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<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=ruglucia@PAHO.ORG
href="mailto:ruglucia@PAHO.ORG">Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV> <A title=EQUIDAD@LISTSERV.PAHO.ORG
href="mailto:EQUIDAD@LISTSERV.PAHO.ORG">EQUIDAD@LISTSERV.PAHO.ORG</A>
<BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><SPAN class=heading1><B><FONT face=Arial
color=#993300 size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #993300">The Global
Gender Gap Report 2006</SPAN></FONT></B></SPAN><FONT color=#993300><SPAN
style="COLOR: #993300"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><STRONG><B><FONT face=Arial color=#333399
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #333399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">World
Economic Forum, December 2006
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial color=#333399 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #333399">The report and individual country
profiles are available free of charge online at <A
href="http://www.weforum.org/gendergap"><FONT color=#333399><SPAN
style="COLOR: #333399">http://www.weforum.org/gendergap</SPAN></FONT></A>
<BR>Also you could download the full <A
href="http://www.weforum.org/gendergap"><FONT color=#333399><SPAN
style="COLOR: #333399">Global Gender Gap Report 2006 Index</SPAN></FONT></A> in
<A href="http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/rankings.xls" target=_blank><FONT
color=#333399><SPAN style="COLOR: #333399">Excel</SPAN></FONT></A>
format.<BR><BR><STRONG><B><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The
report measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality
between men and women:</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><BR>1) Economic participation and
opportunity</SPAN></B> – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access
to high-skilled employment<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2) Educational
attainment</SPAN></B> – outcomes on access to basic and higher level
education<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">3) Political
empowerment</SPAN></B> – outcomes on representation in decision-making
structures<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">4) Health</SPAN></B> <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">and survival</SPAN></B> – outcomes on life expectancy
and sex ratio</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial color=#333399 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #333399">The Nordic countries,
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sweden</SPAN></B></st1:country-region> <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">(1), <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Norway</st1:country-region> (2), <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Finland</st1:country-region> (3) and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iceland</st1:country-region></st1:place>
(4)</SPAN></B>, top the latest Gender Gap Index released today by the World
Economic Forum. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Germany</SPAN></B></st1:country-region></st1:place><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (5)</SPAN></B> completes the top five countries with
the smallest "gender gap". <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place> has particularly strong
scores in the area of political empowerment (6) but displays a weaker
performance in the area of economic participation and opportunity (32) deriving,
in particular, from a persistent wage gap. EU countries generally perform well
in the rankings, with 10 EU members, two of which joined in 2004, in the top 20
positions. The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">United Kingdom</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (9)</SPAN></B> and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Ireland</SPAN></B></st1:country-region></st1:place><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (10)</SPAN></B> both show a strong performance. The
United Kingdom displays a particularly strong performance on educational
attainment, as one of the 11 countries in the world that have fully closed the
gender gap in education, and on political empowerment where it ranks 12th out of
the 115 countries. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Latvia</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (19)</SPAN></B> and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Lithuania</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (20)</SPAN></B> are some of the new EU members that
place well ahead of long-time EU members <st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Austria</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (26)</SPAN></B> and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Belgium</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (33),</SPAN></B> but behind <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Spain</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (11)</SPAN></B> and the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Netherlands</SPAN></B></st1:country-region></st1:place><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (12)</SPAN></B>. At the other end of the rankings,
<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Greece (69)</SPAN></B>, <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">France (70),</SPAN></B> <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Malta (71),</SPAN></B> <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Italy (77)</SPAN></B> and <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Cyprus (83)</SPAN></B> have the lowest rankings in the
EU, reflecting, in particular, low levels of political participation by women in
decision-making bodies and generally poor scores in terms of economic
participation and opportunity, although France’s poor performance in these areas
is partially offset as it is one of the 11 countries holding the top spot in
closing the education gap and one of 34 countries having closed the health gap.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><FONT face=Arial
color=#333399 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #333399">Switzerland</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:country-region><B><FONT
color=#333399><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #333399">
(25)</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT color=#333399><SPAN style="COLOR: #333399"> ranks
behind some of its neighbours such as <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region> (5), but well ahead of others such as
<st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> (70) and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region></st1:place>
(77). The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">United States</SPAN></B></st1:country-region><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (22</SPAN></B>) lags behind many European nations in
addition to falling behind <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Canada</SPAN></B></st1:country-region></st1:place><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (14).</SPAN></B> The United States performs
particularly well on economic participation and opportunity (3) and on health
(1), sharing the number one spot in this category with 33 other countries, but
lags behind on political empowerment (66). Both <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">New
Zealand</SPAN></B></st1:country-region> <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">(7)</SPAN></B> and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Australia</SPAN></B></st1:country-region></st1:place>
<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">(15)</SPAN></B> rank well in closing the
gender gap. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Philippines</SPAN></B></st1:country-region></st1:place><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (6)</SPAN></B> is distinctive as the only Asian
country in the top 10. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial color=#333399 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #333399">The report covers all current and
candidate European Union countries, 20 from Latin America and the Caribbean,
over 20 from sub-Saharan <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> and 10 from the
Arab world. Together, the 115 economies cover over 90% of the world’s
population. The index mainly uses publicly available "hard data" indicators
drawn from international organizations and some qualitative information from the
Forum’s own Executive Opinion Survey<SUP>1.<BR><BR></SUP>The Global Gender Gap
Report 2006 includes an innovative new methodology including detailed profiles
of each economy that provide insight into the economic, legal and social aspects
of the gender gap. The methodology is the result of collaboration between
Ricardo Hausmann, Director of the Center for International Development at
Harvard University, Laura D. Tyson, Dean of the London Business School and
Saadia Zahidi, Head of the World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders
Programme.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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