ABSTRACT
The gender gap, that is to say, the differences between women and men, especially as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes, is still relevant as economic and policy issue, even after the crisis. The Global Gender Gap index, introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, provides a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities around the world. The index seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men across a large set of countries and across four key areas: health, education, economics and politics. The index benchmarks national gender gaps of 142 countries, taking into account a comprehensive set of supporting information that provides the broader context on gender parity laws, social norms, policies and outcomes within a country. In 2014 (World Economic Forum 2014), the index for Italy was only 4 percentage points lower than in 2006 (the first year of the report), falling from 60 per cent in 2006 to 56 per cent in 2014. The report also shows that gender equality of opportunities and outcomes are still far from being achieved, especially in the absence of specific policy interventions.
