Where Is the Glass Ceiling Holding Women Back Most?

Inclusion in the workforce and the child care provisions so crucial for it are the parameters that make up The Economist's Glass-Ceiling Index. It shows which OECD countries offer women the best chances of equal treatment at the workplace. In 2023 - and many years in a row before that - Scandinavian countries are best at shattering the glass ceiling, while Switzerland, Turkey, Japan and South Korea have been ranked in the bottom 20 percent of the index since its inception in 2016. Hungary and Israel were also part of this group of laggards most recently after having seen their ranking deteriorate over the years. Japan is no longer second-to-last since switching places with Turkey last year. South Korea, where women grapple with conservative workplace culture, poorly paid part-time positions and as a result, some of the highest relative child care costs in the OECD, was consistently ranked last over the past eight years.

The country, together with Japan where much of the same problems prevail, has been known as one of the worst places for women in the developed world to achieve equal treatment in the workplace. The added problems of combining work and family have been identified as a reason why birthrates have been plummeting in both countries. Paternal leave has as a result been adjusted to the highest in the OECD in the two countries, but hardly changed the overwhelmingly negative reality.

Major economies the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany also fare less than ideal with lower than OECD average results. Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland come out on top and are joined by France in the top 20 percent of countries. While Israel and Hungary lost most ranks since 2016, improvements show in Austria, the Czech Republic and Ireland. Parameters for the index include gender gaps in higher education, labor-force participation, wages, managerial and board positions as well as child-care costs and paid maternity and paternity leave.