In this article, we take a look at the least feminist country in the world. If you wish to see our full list, please switch over to 20 Least Feminist Countries in the World.

A Historic Milestone

On June 2^nd, Mexico is set to witness what The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) describes as a landmark election. It is expected to be the largest election in the nation’s history, with an anticipated turnout of approximately 99 million voters, per The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT). However, what makes the election truly unprecedented is that Mexico is on the brink of electing its first-ever female president. According to The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), both front runners in the election campaign are women, namely Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez. The imminent election of a female president in Mexico isn’t an isolated event. Rather, it is part of a much larger global effort to not only challenge gender-based social and cultural inequities but also ensure that women can play a critical role in driving political and economic success.

Women-led Businesses

Politics isn’t the only area where women have managed to secure high-level positions. Just a few years ago, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) appointed Jane Fraser as its CEO, marking it as the first time ever that a major Wall Street bank was led by a woman. Currently, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is one of the notable names, alongside General Motor Company (NYSE: GM), and Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL), that have women in chief executive roles. However, appointing female CEOs isn’t a symbolic gesture to gain social capital. In fact, a recent study by Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) showcases how impactful female business owners have been in growing their businesses since the pandemic. According to Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), from 2019 to 2023, women-owned businesses’ growth rate outpaced the rate of men’s 94.3% for number of firms, 252.8% for employment, and 82.0% for revenue. The Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) Impact of Women-Owned Business Report 2024 also revealed that during the pandemic, women-owned businesses added 1.4 million jobs and $579.6 billion in revenue to the US economy. However, like almost every other facet of life, despite their significant contributions to the global economy, women continue to be subjected to inequitable working conditions.

Gender Inequality

According to the Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), 51% of peri and post-menopausal women report menopause negatively impacted their work life. Yet, Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) reports that only 14% of these women believe their employers recognize the need for menopause-specific benefits. Moreover, other than a select few nations in the world, most nations, including the US, have no state or federal-level policies to mandate menstrual leaves. Apart from a lack of mindfulness of women-centric challenges, many other biases result in women being financially exploited. A government survey on gender pay gaps in Australia showed that the average gender pay gap of surveyed companies was 19%. This gap was even more significant in firms such as Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), where the gap was 48% and 42% respectively. Similarly, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) had a gap of 29%, although the company maintained that this gap was due to a higher proportion of men in senior roles.

Although several nations have managed to overcome gender inequality to a significant extent, women in most countries continue to suffer at the hands of social and cultural stigmas. This is particularly evident in the developing world, where many countries have poor gender equality and gender pay gaps are often substantially higher than the global average. A study on gender equality in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023 revealed that women earn 40 to 46 percent less than men in urban areas. United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023 revealed that women held only 28% of management positions globally in 2021. Despite it already being poor, the situation in Northern Africa, Western Asia, and Central & South Asia is even worse, with a figure of just 15%. This is despite the fact that gender equality is considered to be one of the most important factors in alleviating poverty. In fact, Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) claims that the global economy is losing out on at least $7 trillion of economic gains each year due to a failure to reach gender parity in the workforce.

With these factors considered, if you’re wondering which country has the worst gender pay gap or where is gender inequality most common in the world, join us as we look at the least feminist countries in the world.

Our Methodology

To develop our list of least feminist countries in the world, we utilized 4 different datasets. These included UNDP’s GENDER INEQUALITY INDEX (GII), World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), UN Women’s Women Empowerment Index, and Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security’s (GIWPS) Women Peace and Security Index. Using data from all 4 sources, we calculated an aggregate score for each country. The list was sorted in descending order, with the top 20 items being selected as the least feminist countries in the world.

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Our methodology revealed that Yemen is the least feminist country in the world.

1. Yemen

Insider Monkey Score: 4.00

Yemen is currently experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with 17.6 million people facing food & nutrition insecurity and 4.5 million people currently being displaced. According to UNWFP, in January 2024, 52% of the surveyed households in Yemen were unable to access adequate food. As with other cases of political conflicts, the current situation in Yemen has exacerbated gender disparities.

Over 30 percent of Yemeni girls are married before the age of 18, often because families fail to meet basic needs such as putting food on the table, instead marrying their daughters in the hopes of offering them a better life whilst also alleviating their own financial hardships. For years, authorities have also implemented strict restrictions on travel, requiring women to be accompanied by male guardians when traveling.

Consequently, women experiencing domestic abuse cannot leave their homes without their husband’s permission and can even be disciplined by their partners to ensure they comply. Those managing to escape the vicinity of their homes aren’t better off either. According to a report on gender-based violence in Yemen, during the first 7 months of 2022, Houthi forces abducted over 100 girls on false prostitution charges, subjecting them to virginity tests and assaulting them while in custody.

Although Yemen is the least feminist country in the world, our list reveals that in terms of sexual violence and discriminatory legal frameworks, some countries might actually be worse.

If you’re interested in finding out which other countries in the world rank worst in terms of gender equality, check out our free-full list of 20 Least Feminist Countries in the World. 

At Insider Monkey, we delve into a variety of topics, ranging from the most and least feminist countries in the world to retirement and investment strategies; however, our expertise lies in identifying the top-performing stocks. Currently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology stands out as one of the most promising fields. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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