MARCH 17, 2017 by VICTORIA SCOTT Qatar is home to one of the most unequal societies in the world when it comes to gender, according to a new index. The country ranked 117th out of 122 nations listed in business school INSEAD‘s Gender Progress Index 2017, which was released this month. That puts Qatar behind all of its Gulf peers. According to the report, the low score had to do with a lack of female political involvement, as well as the low number of men pursuing higher education in Qatar. That said, none of the Gulf countries fared particularly well in the index. The UAE was the highest-ranked GCC nation at 85th. Kuwait was 99th, Bahrain 103rd, Saudi Arabia 110th and Oman was 113th. ‘Uneven development’ The index covers five different aspects of a nation: education, health, labor, political involvement and society. Within each of these sections are several different parameters. These include PISA scores, obesity and mortality rates, shares of seats in positions of power and parental leave allowances. Qatar’s poor score is due to its “uneven development,” the report’s author and INSEAD economist Dr. Kai Chan told Doha News. “While good in some areas, it (Qatar’s development) is not balanced,” he said. A different kind of index According to Chan, this…
