In its annual report, the World Economic Forum has looked at the differences between the sexes in terms of education and health, as well as economic and political opportunities in 156 countries.

Before the pandemic, the forecast was that it would take almost 100 years before global equality between women and men was achieved.

But now the forecast is almost 136 years.

- Our data already clearly show that the pandemic has had an impact on gender equality.

We see a number of setbacks in terms of women in leading positions, in the labor market globally and an ongoing stagnation in, among other things, the education sector, says Dr.

Vesselina Ratcheva at the Center for Economic and Social Development at the World Economic Forum in Geneva to SVT News.

She emphasizes that it is a declining trend that has been going on for a couple of years and not only the pandemic that is the cause.

World Economic Forum Global Equality Index 2021. Photo: SVT Design

New Zealand is passing

In the global index 2021, New Zealand overtakes Sweden and takes fourth place on the list.

- It depends on a combination of different economic and political factors, and in Sweden you have not yet had a female head of government, unlike in New Zealand, says Dr.

Vesselina Ratcheva.

Gender equality is progressing in Sweden, but not as fast as in New Zealand, for example.

- In clear terms, Sweden has actually gone up, although not as much as the very competitive countries that are really making great progress in gender equality issues, says Ratcheva.

Jacinda Ardern is New Zealand's third female Prime Minister.

Photo: Epa 3 February 2021

Men dominate as heads of state

The conclusion is that 81 out of 156 countries - over half - have never had a woman as head of state * or government in the last 50 years.

The report highlights that 47 percent of the seats in Sweden's Riksdag are held by women and that as many as 57.1 percent of the ministers in the government are women.

Despite this, Sweden is the only country in the top five that has never had a woman as head of government.

But Sweden continues to rank high thanks to developed parental insurance and publicly funded childcare.

Economic gap

Sweden has a gap of about 18 percent in income between women and men, to the advantage of men, according to the report.

But the gap is even larger between women and men in Germany (30 percent), Denmark (38 percent), France (39 percent) and the United States (35 percent).

Iceland remains number one on the global gender equality list.

The country has its second female prime minister.

Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven at the Rosenbad government headquarters in Stockholm.

Photo: TT 30 October 2019

* Footnote: In a monarchy like Sweden, the head of state is the reigning monarch, for Sweden's right now King Carl XVI Gustaf.

The report, however, refers to the term the country's highest politically appointed post.

In countries with Sweden's statehood, it is the head of government, the prime minister.

In republics such as France and the United States, it is the president, who also holds the title of head of state.