Regarding “A welcome boost toward gender equality from Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Bezos“, an editorial by The Seattle Times published June 18, 2020:
This editorial relies on the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Gender Gap Report, which ranks the United States 46th in educational attainment. That sounds like a problem to be solved, but – upon closer investigation – it is not. We’ll explain why that ranking is misleading.
The Global Gender Gap Report’s educational attainment subindex is composed of four factors. In the United States, girls are doing better than boys or as well as boys on all four factors that make up the educational attainment subindex. Why, then, suggest that that educational gender inequality is a problem for girls in this country?
The WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report ranks the United States 46th, but our score is 0.998. That score puts the U.S. two thousandths of a point (0.002) lower than the gender parity paragons of Finland and Denmark (1.000). Our score is equal to Sweden (0.998) and better than Ireland (0.996).
When striving for true gender equality or equity, we should refer to indices that equally capture instances when women are behind men and vice versa, like the Basic Indicator of Gender Inequality (BIGI): “The BIGI aims to provide a simplified and unbiased measure by focusing on key indicators that are relevant to all men and women in any society” (emphasis in the original).
Related WIBM post: Seattle Times editorial celebrates billionaires’ one-sided take on gender equality
If there is gender equality progress to be made in educational attainment in the United States, it is primarily to lift up boys (see Boys and Men’s Issues: K-12 Education). Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Bezos’s Equality Can’t Wait Challenge fails to address this. Their website states women earn more than two-thirds of masters degrees and the majority of doctoral degrees, while also saying the U.S. has achieved gender parity in educational attainment. It would be more accurate to say the U.S. has exceeded gender parity. In other words: gender inequality.
References:
A welcome boost toward gender equality – The Seattle Times
Global Gender Gap Report 2018 (pages 13 and 287)
Equality Can’t Wait
Basic Indicator of Gender Inequality (5/21/2023 Link no longer active)
