It will take more than two and a half centuries for women to enjoy the same economic opportunities as men if the gender gap continues closing at its current slow rate, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
In world rankings, Iceland has remained at the top of the ladder for equality, while New Zealand was among the Top 10, the WEF report shows.
The organisation, which hosts country leaders and corporate chiefs in Davos, Switzerland, published its annual Global Gender Gap Report on Tuesday, measuring the overall disparity by looking at economics, education, health and political power.
"This year's report highlights the growing urgency for action," WEF founder Klaus Schwab said, warning that broad economic growth and development will not happen without women.
"At the dawn of the 2020s, building fairer and more inclusive economies must be the goal of global, national and industry leaders," he added.
In the country ranking, Iceland defended its top place as the world's most equal country this year, followed by Norway, Sweden, Finland and Nicaragua.
Source: WEF
New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Rwanda and Germany are also among the top 10.
Australia ranked 44th among the 153 countries included in the WEF report.
The overall gender gap closed by one percentage point to 31 per cent in 2019, as progress in political representation of women outweighed setbacks in the economic field.
While women are on track to enjoy the same education opportunities as men within 12 years, political equality will take 95 more years and economic parity is still 257 years away if the situation improves at the current rate, according to the report.
