ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Women in Iran are nearly equal to men in access to healthcare and education, but wide rifts exist in other areas, such as job opportunities and equal pay, according to the latest report by the World Economic Forum.

In a report ranking 145 countries around the world, in health and schooling women in Iran obtained a score of 99 to 110 – indicating near gender equality.

Yet the country’s political and economic gaps are huge, the report said.

Women’s participation in the jobs market, the number of female candidates inside parliament and other government institutions. as well as their incomes, showed huge gender gaps, in comparison to other countries.

WEF also reported that since 2006 some 250 million women have joined the work market globally.

The report projected that, at present rates of growth, it would take 118 years for men and women to reach complete economic equality around the world.

Over the past decade, the education gap between men and women recorded a 22 percent rise.

In 97 countries the numbers of women who attend universities is higher than men and in 68 countries women are in majority when it comes to employment skills.

There are only four countries where most of political leaders are women, the report said.

Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Ireland received top scores for gender equality. The United States came 28 position, and Russia at 75. China ranked 91 and India 108.

Iran ranked among the worst countries for overall gender equality, together with Yemen, Pakistan, Syria and Chad.

Rudaw