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Italy one of world's worst for wage equality

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Italy one of world's worst for wage equality
On average for every man earning $40,000 (€31,500), a woman will earn just $22,848 in Italy. Inequality photo: Shutterstock"

Italy is one of the world’s worst countries for wage equality, with women earning significantly less than men for similar work, a new report by the World Economic Forum shows.

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Italy ranks 129th place for wage equality out of 131 countries, making it the worst in Europe after France (126th) and Hungary (127th).

Just two other countries ranked - Israel and Angola - have lower scores in the annual Global Gender Gap Report.

Overall, Italy came 114th for women’s economic participation and opportunity, coming 103rd for estimated income earned.

On average, for every man earning $40,000 (€31,500), a woman will earn just $22,848 in Italy.

Such figures put Italy just behind Chile and Ivory Coast in the income rankings, but within Europe above both the Netherlands (104th) and Malta (116th).

The country fares mildly better for labour force participation, coming 88th, and scores most highly for political empowerment.

Despite Italy having never had a female prime minister, the country ranked 30th for the number of women in parliament.

Within Europe this put Italy above numerous countries including Switzerland (33rd), France (44th) and the UK (63rd).

The Italian cabinet also fares well, coming 32nd for gender equality thanks to the “pink quota” of championed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Italy does relatively well in education, coming 62nd overall, and health (70th) owing to women living longer than men.

Watch a video about the Global Gender Gap Report:

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