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Women's rights groups organised a march for gender equality on International Women's Day, 8 March. Photo: Romain Gamba 

The grand duchy can do better in eradicating gender inequality. The "Global Gender Gap Report 2021" published by the World Economic Forum on 30 March placed the grand duchy in 55th position out of the 156 countries analysed, with the country losing four places.

The grand duchy obtained a score of 0.726, below the score of 1 which represents parity. Zero represents imparity. In comparison, Iceland, at the top of the list, obtained 0.892. Afghanistan, the worst performer, received a score of 0.444.

Luxembourg’s score changed little in one year, gaining only 0.001 points. Compared to the 2006 scorecard, when Luxembourg was in 56th place, there is a difference of +0.059.

62nd position in terms of salaries

Its poor ratings are due to women's limited access to legislative, senior official and management positions (score of 0.347), as well as their absence from political ranks in parliament (0.247). The country makes up for this with a score of 1 for educational attainment. In terms of wage equality for similar work, Luxembourg ranked 62nd with a score of 0.688.

Despite the good marks in some categories, Luxembourg is far behind its neighbours in the overall ranking. Germany came in 11th place, Belgium in 13th place and France in 16th place.

In general, it seems that the health crisis has slowed overall progress in terms of gender equality according to the report. It estimates that it will take about 135.6 years to reach global parity, 36 years more than what was announced in the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report.

This article was first published in French on Paperjam and has been translated and edited for Delano.