Women Must Wait 217 Years To Earn The Same As Men, Index Says

Women will have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and have equal representation in the workplace, research said, revealing the widest gap in almost a decade.

Women are paid and achieve just over half as much as men in the workplace, the World Economic Forum said, reporting an economic gap of 58 percent between the sexes.

“In 2017 we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse,” said Saadia Zahidi, WEF’s head of education, gender and work.

“Gender equality is both a moral and economic imperative. Some countries understand this and they are now seeing dividends from the proactive measures they have taken to address their gender gaps.”


It is the second year in a row that the Swiss non-profit has recorded worsening economic inequality, which is calculated by measuring how many men and women participate in the labour force, their earned incomes and their job advancement.

Last year, WEF said women would achieve economic equality in 170 years, down from 118 years in 2015.