Ahead of International Women's Day, PwC has released its annual ranking of the representation and welfare of women in the workplace across 33 OECD countries. The Women in Work Index 2019 gauged female economic empowerment through several measures such as equality of earnings, the ability of women to access employment opportunities and job security in 2017.
Iceland was named the best developed country for female workers with an index score of 79.1. Sweden came second with 76.1 while New Zealand rounded off the top three with 73.6. Nordic countries took five of the top-10 places while the world's largest English-speaking economies have some catching up to do. Canada came 11th while the UK ranked 13th.
There's a considerable gap back to the United States which only managed a score of 61.1, putting it all the way down in 23rd position. Luxembourg and Poland have made the most noticeable improvements in the index since 2000 while Portugal, the U.S. and Austria have dropped the most places during that period.
PwC said that increasing female employment across all OECD nations would result in huge economic rewards. For example, if the U.S. moved to match Sweden's levels of female employment, its economy would be boosted by $1.8 trillion. If all OECD countries emulated Sweden, the collective increase in GDP would be more than $6 trillion.
infographic by: www.forbes.com
