The Reykjavik Index for Leadership 2021-2022
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021-2022 report by Kantar Public and Women Political Leaders
In 2018, Kantar Public came together with Women Political Leaders to create The Reykjavík Index for Leadership – the world’s first measure of society’s perceptions of women and men’s suitability to lead.
Initially measured for the G7 group of countries, it provided the evidence and documentation of the extent of prejudice towards female leaders across government, politics, and business. Four years on, The Reykjavík Index has demonstrated that women are significantly and conclusively constrained in their journeys to leadership by societal prejudice.
Now established as the international ‘go to’ for policy makers, The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/22 is the largest yet – reflecting the views of more than 35,000 people, across both the G7 and G20 nations, as well as Iceland, Poland, and Spain.
Whilst the Index demonstrates that societal values towards equality are not progressing, it does none the less provide us with some reasons for optimism. This year, included for the first time, is Iceland, who have moved straight to the top of the Index. Iceland is close to ‘gender neutral’ in its perceptions of leadership. It provides evidence for what is possible, and an example to learn from.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership reminds us that perceptions are critical. We ask government, business, and civil society to use this evidence to support action as we work to create a society where we all have an equal opportunity to serve through leadership.
What is the Reykjavík Index for Leadership?
What is The Reykjavík Index for Leadership?
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership measures the extent to which men and women are viewed equally in terms of their suitability for positions of power. The Index runs from 0 to 100; a score of 100 means that across society, there is complete agreement that men and women are equally suited to leadership in all sectors.
Our explicit goal is a world in which the Reykjavík Index score of 100 is the norm; this would be a world where men and women will have an equal opportunity to lead.
The Index has been constructed based on research exploring the question:
“For each of the following sectors or industries, do you think men or women are better suited to leadership positions?”
This question allows responses of ‘men’, ‘women’ or ‘both equally’ for 23 different sectors. Aligned with our goal, a response of ‘both equally’ scores a point while a response of ‘men’ or of ‘women’ scores zero points.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership was launched in 2018 for the G7 countries and repeated in 2019. This report summarises the results for The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022, which has been undertaken again in the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and USA), and expanded to cover all G20 countries, as well as Iceland, Spain and Poland.
1. Iceland is the most progressive society in terms of perceptions of women and men’s suitability to lead
For the first time since the launch of the Reykjavík Index in 2018, Iceland is included in our research. When it comes to perceptions of gender equality in leadership, Iceland with an Index score of 92, is the most progressive of the 22 countries covered this year. It is well ahead of all G20 countries with a 10-point lead over the next highest-ranking countries – Spain and the UK, with an Index score of 82.
This aligns with Iceland’s position in other rankings on gender equality (notably the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap 2021 report1). Iceland is a role model for other countries. It was the first country in the world to directly elect a female President and gender equality has been part of the constitution since 2000.
In 2018, it became the first country to enforce equal pay – companies and institutions with more than 25 employees must now prove that they pay men and women equally for a job of equal value.
While Icelanders hold the most progressive views on women and men in leadership positions, there is a gap between the Index scores of women (94) and men (91) – as with other countries covered in our research. Younger people are more likely to think that men and women are equally suited to lead across the 23 different sectors.
2. There has been no progress in the journey to gender equality for the G7 since 2019
In 2021, the Reykjavík Index average score for the G7 countries remains at 73 – the same as in 2020 and 2019 and only one point higher than in 2018, highlighting entrenched gender stereotypes regarding men and women in positions of leadership.
COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on gender equality: women have been hit the hardest by the economic consequences of lockdown measures and the pressures of home working combined with home schooling. 2
While many women took prominent leadership roles in fighting the pandemic, in medical research, healthcare and government, our 2021 data shows that across the G7, deeply rooted views on female leadership are hard to shift.
At a country level, the Reykjavík Index ranking remains unchanged. The UK continues to lead the G7 ranking, with a score of 82. It is one of the only two G7 countries whose Index score has increased over the past four years – a five-point increase from 77 in 2018, to 82 in 2021.
Italy’s score has increased by six points, from 63 in 2018 to 69 in 2021. The scores of the other G7 countries have either stagnated or declined since 2018.
3. Some G20 countries are more comfortable with female leadership than some of the G7
Only three G7 countries are in the top tier of the Reykjavík Index ranking: the UK is in second position, together with Spain, with a score of 82, Canada in is fourth position (79) and the USA in sixth position together with Urban India with a score of 76.
The other G7 countries are clustered around the middle of the ranking: France (73), Italy 69 and Japan (68). Germany is at the bottom of the middle tier in fifteenth position with a score of 66, despite Angela Merkel having served four terms as Chancellor.
Beyond the G7, three Latin American countries achieved high Index scores: Argentina (78), Mexico (73) and Brazil (72). These results align with the ranking of the Global Gender Gap 2021 report, where Mexico and Argentina are in 34th and 35th places, out of 156 countries, respectively.
The results of the Reykjavík Index align closely with the WEF’s Global Gender Gap report, which measures the gap between women and men on multiple dimensions. Countries in the top tier of the Reykjavík Index ranking tend to score in the first tier of the Global Gender Gap Report4 and it is a similar picture in the bottom tier of both studies.
3: Education attainment, health and survival, economic participation, political empowerment
4: Except India, all the other top eight countries in the Reykjavík Index are also in the 1st tier of the WEF’s Global Gender Gap report
4. Women and men are both prejudiced about gender and leadership … but not equally
Women are more likely than men to perceive men and women as equally suitable for leadership across the 22 countries covered in this year’s research.
On average, in the G20 countries, there is a seven -point gap between the scores of women (71) and of men (64). Countries with the widest dissonance between the views of women and men are Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia. The gap in these countries is above 10 points. In Germany and France there is a nine-point gap.
By contrast, in Brazil there is no difference in the attitudes of men and women. In Spain there is a one-point difference and in South Africa two points.
5. Countries with low Index scores tend to have the largest levels of dissonance between the views of women and men
In many of the countries in the bottom half of the Reykjavík Index ranking, there is a wide gap between the views held by women and men towards gender and leadership. In these countries, men are likely to hold the deepest levels of prejudice across the countries so far researched.
6 . Averages can be misleading in the G20 countries
Views between different age groups vary across all 22 countries. In Australia and Poland, younger people are more prejudiced against female leadership than older generations. In other countries, however, the trend is reversed, with younger people holding more progressive views about gender and leadership than their parents and grandparents.
This is a strong trend in South Korea where there is an Index score of 61 for the 18-34 age group compared with a score of 46 for the 55-65 age group, as well as in Mexico (77 vs 68) and Iceland (95 vs 88). Icelandic youth is the most progressive cohort across all countries covered.
7. Younger people across the G7 hold the least progressive views towards gender and leadership
Across all G7 countries, the youngest age group (18-34) have less progressive attitudes than older people. They report an Index score of 69 – a three-point drop compared with 2020, while the Index scores reach 74 among people aged 35-54, and 77 among the older age group (55-65). This points to a potential rise in traditional views among both young women and young men.
The generational gap within the G7 countries is especially pronounced in Japan and Germany. Japanese people aged 55-65 have an index score of 76, but the score for young people is only 58. This is the largest gap observed across all 22 countries. In Germany, the gap between younger and older cohorts is 11 points.
8 . Young men are significantly less progressive in their views than young women
The dissonance between the views held by young men and young women is pronounced in many countries. In France, young women have an Index score of 77 while young men have a score of 63. In Germany, there is a wide gap between young women and young men and with a score of 55, young German men show amongst the highest gender prejudice across all 22 countries (alongside young men in Indonesia, China, Poland, Russia and Saudi Arabia).
Only in a small number of countries is the gap between young women and young men relatively narrow: Brazil, India, Canada, South Africa and Iceland. Japan is an outlier in this regard, as young women in Japan appear to be less open to gender parity in leadership than young men, with an Index score of 53 for young Japanese women compared with 63 for young men.
9. Women are more comfortable than men with having a woman as Head of Government
Across the G7, only 52% of people say they are very comfortable having a woman as the head of government (57% female respondents and 47% male respondents). This drops to 47% across the G20 (52% women and 43% men).
A significant proportion of women and men state that they are not comfortable with having a woman as a head of government. This is the case for a quarter of women in South Korea (25%) and Indonesia (24%) and for 15% of women in Germany.
And one in ten respondents across the G20 (both women and men) say that they are not comfortable with a woman as the CEO of a large company. In some countries the numbers are substantially higher: South Korea (29%), Indonesia (20%), Saudi Arabia (18%), India (15%), Turkey (14%) and Germany (13%).
10. Prejudices against men and women remain entrenched in various sectors
At the G20 level, seven of the 23 sectors covered by our research have relatively high Index scores, reaching between 75 and 78. For these sectors (Media & Entertainment, Natural Sciences, Banking & Finance, Economic & Political Science, Pharmaceutical & Medical Research, Judiciary, and Government & Politics), a large majority consider men and women to be equally suited to lead.
Furthermore, the minority of respondents who express a preference for one gender or another are evenly distributed between those favouring men and those favouring women (with the exception of Pharmaceutical & Medical Research). This means that none of these sectors is skewed towards either men or women.
Looking at the two sectors at the bottom of our ranking for both the G7 and G20 – Childcare and Fashion & Beauty – while only half of people view both genders as equally suited to lead, the other half consider that women would make better leaders in both sectors. The three other sectors where prejudice towards male leadership prevails are Education, Charity, and Healthcare & Well-being.
By contrast, prejudices against women leaders can be seen in the remaining sectors whose Index scores range between 59 and 72 – with these views being held by both women and men across the large majority of countries.
This is the case of sectors requiring high levels of technical skills (such as Architecture, Engineering, Aerospace and Automotive), as well as sectors related to power and authority (Defence & Police, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence services). There is a similar bias in favour of male leadership in High-tech & AI, Gaming and Sport, although to a lesser extent.
The G20+ Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022 for the G20+
With an Index score of 92, Iceland is the most progressive of the 22 countries covered this year. It is well ahead of all G20 countries with a 10-point lead over the next highest-ranking countries – Spain and the UK (Index score of 82).
Saudi Arabia and Indonesia achieve the lowest scores, both below 50. The average Index score (68) for the G20 hides some significant differences between countries: twelve countries have a score above average, while ten countries – including two G7 countries, Japan and Germany – obtain a score equal to the average or lower.
The Reykjavik Index for Leadership Index 2021/ 2022 for the G20+ (22 countries)
The dissonance between women and men across the G20+
Overall, women are more likely than men to perceive men and women as equally suitable for leadership: the average Index score across the G20 is 71 for women vs 64 for men. The two exceptions are Japan – where the score for women is one point lower than their male counterparts – and Brazil where there is no difference in the attitudes of men and women.
Countries with the widest dissonance between the views of women and men are Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia (bottom of the ranking) and Australia.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: women/men by G20+ country
Differences (or lack of) between age groups across the G20 and G7
The Reykjavík Index also provides insight into how much different age groups agree or disagree that men and women are equally suitable to lead.
At the G20 level, there is very little difference between the Index scores of the younger and older age groups. However, these average scores mask significant differences at the country level, particularly within the 18-34 and 55-65 age groups, as revealed on the following pages.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: G20 and G7 average by age group
Conversely, the Index scores across the G7 countries highlight a generational gap: younger are people hold the least progressive views towards gender and leadership.
Compared to older people, they are significantly less likely to think that men and women are equally suitable to lead across the 23 different economic sectors.
Differences between age groups across selected G20+ countries
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: age group scores in selected G20+ countries
At a country-level, the Index scores by age groups reveal two different patterns: one group of countries where younger people hold less progressive views towards female leadership than their parents or grandparents – and one group where younger people are more progressive in their views.
With a score of 95, Icelandic youth is the most progressive cohort across all countries covered, and more progressive than the older Icelandic generation (there is seven-point gap with the 55 -65 age group). A similar generational trend can be seen in Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea.
Across 11 countries, younger people are more prejudiced towards women in positions of leadership compared to their older counterparts. This generational gap is especially pronounced in Japan, Germany, and Australia where the Index score of the 18-34 age group is at least 10 points below the score of the 55-65 age group.
However, there is also a third group of countries where this generational gap is very narrow: for example, this is the case in Urban India and Brazil.
G20 and G7 average scores by age group for women and men
Across the G20, the dissonance between the views held by women and men is particularly pronounced among the 18-34, with a nine-point gap. Young men in the G20 are the most prejudiced segment towards female leadership, while the views of women are more consistent.
Conversely, for the G7, younger people are less progressive than their predecessors. The gap between the views of women and men barely narrows across the age groups. With a score of 66, young men again are the group most prejudiced against female leadership in the G7.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: G20 and G7 average scores by age group for women and men
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: comparison between young women and young men in selected G20+ countries
On average, across the G20 countries, there is a nine-point gap between the scores of young women (71) and young men (62). In the G7, the gap is slightly narrower (six points).
Countries with the widest dissonance between the views of young women and young men are Australia (17-point gap), followed by South Korea (16-point gap), Poland and France (15-point gap for both).
Japan is the only country where young women are more prejudiced about gender and leadership than their male counterparts.
By contrast, in Brazil there is no difference in the attitudes of young women and men. In Urban India there is just a one-point difference.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: comparison between older women and older men in selected G20+ countries
On average, across the G20 countries, there is a four-point gap between the scores of women (70) and men (66) aged 55-65. In the G7, there is a five-point gap (80 vs 75).
In the three Latin American countries as well as in Spain, women of this older generation are more prejudiced than their male counterparts. With a 21-point gap, Mexico is the country with the widest gap between the views of older men and older women.
Conversely, older men in South Korea, Italy and Germany are more prejudiced against female leadership than women. In Japan and the US, there is very little difference in the attitudes of older women and men.
The G7 Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2020/2021: differences by sector across the G20
At the G20 level, there are significant differences between sectors: Media and Entertainment is the sector perceived to be most suitable for gender equality in leadership with an Index score of 78; while strong gender prejudices prevail for the Childcare sector (Index score of 47).
Seven of the 23 sectors covered by our research have relatively high Index scores, reaching between 75 and 78. By contrast, ten sectors have an Index of 70 or below, meaning that significant gender biases (towards either men or women leaders) exist for these sectors.
For every sector, the Index scores of women are higher than those of men. The widest dissonance between the perceptions of women and men can be in four sectors: Defence & Police, Intelligence Services, Engineering, Fashion & Beauty.
However, while women are less likely than men to express gender preferences, they are not entirely free of prejudice against gender and leadership: for the Childcare sector for instance, half of the women interviewed say that men and women are not equally suitable to lead.
The G7 Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2020/2021: perceptions of better suitability of men or women by sector
Across the G20 countries, when looking at people’s perceptions of whether a man or a woman is a better suited to hold a position of leadership within a given sector, on average women and men are nearly as likely to be considered better suited to lead (13% and 14% respectively)..
People are most likely to hold unequal views in sectors for which women are considered as better suited to hold positions of leadership. These include Childcare and Fashion & Beauty, where more than four in ten respondents (43% and 41% respectively) say that women are better suited to lead.
Defense & Police, Automotive manufacturers, and Gaming are also subject to gender prejudices. However, for these sectors, the bias is in favour of male leadership.
Level of comfort with having a woman as Head of Government across the G20 or G7
On average, only 47% of people across the G20 (and 52% across the G7) say they are ‘very comfortable’ with having a woman as Head of Government.
While women are more positively predisposed than men towards female leadership, this proportion does not reach more than six in ten women, whether in the G20 (52%) or G7 (57%).
Less than half of men across the G20 (43%) and the G7 (47%) support the idea of having a woman as Head of Government.
At a country level, a significant proportion of women and men state that they are not comfortable with having a woman as a Head of Government. This is the case for a quarter of women in South Korea (25%) and Indonesia (24%) and for 15% of women in Germany.
Percentage of people who agree with the statement “I would feel very comfortable with a woman as the Head of Government in my country”
Level of comfort with having a Woman as CEO of a major company across the G20 and G7
On average, only 48% of people across the G20 (and 54% across the G7) say they are ‘very comfortable’ with having a woman as CEO of a major company in their country.
These results are similar to people’s attitudes towards having a woman as Head of Government across the G20 and G7 countries. There is a ten -point difference between the responses of women and men in both the G20 and G7, which again highlights the fact than women are more positively predisposed towards female leadership than men.
One in ten respondents across the G20 (both women and men) say that they are not comfortable with a woman as the CEO of a large company.
In some countries the numbers are substantially higher: South Korea (29%), Indonesia (20%), Saudi Arabia (18%), India (15%), Turkey (14%) and Germany (13%).
Percentage of people who agree with the statement “I would feel very comfortable with a woman as CEO of a major company in my country”
The G7 Reykjavík Index for Leadership: Evolution over time
The G7 Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: what has changed at the national level?
In 2021, the Reykjavík Index average score for the G7 countries remains at 73 – the same as in 2020 and 2019, and only one point higher than in 2018.
At a country level, the Reykjavík Index ranking is the same as last year, with the UK remaining in first position. The Index score for Canada has dropped for the first time since the launch of the Index, while the score for France has decreased for the third time running.
Italy's score has progressed by one point on last year, while the scores for the US, Japan, and Germany have not changed.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership by G7 country, 2018-2021
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: G7 country scores for women and men
Overall, women are more likely than men to perceive men and women as equally suitable for leadership: the average Index score across the G7 is 76 for women vs 71 for men.
The only exception is in Japan: the score for women is one point lower than for men. Germany and France have the widest gap between the views of women and men.
At the G7 level, the average Index score for women has decreased by one point vs 2020, while the score for men has increased by two points year on year.
The biggest changes can be seen in the scores for men in Italy (+ three points, which reverse last year’s drop) and in Japan (+ four points).
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2020/2021: women/men by G7 country
Changes in women’s and men’s views by G7 country in 2021 vs 2020
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: changes in G7 average score by age group between 2021 and 2020
Across all G7 countries, the youngest age group (18-34) have less progressive attitudes to gender and leadership, than older people. They report an Index score of 69 – a three-point drop compared to 2020, while the Index scores reach 74 among people aged 35-54, and 77 among the older age group (55-65).
This generational gap, which has increased from four points in 2020 to eight points in 2021, points to a rise in traditional views amongst young people across the G7.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2020/2021: changes in G7 average by age group
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: G7 country scores by age group
The generation gap across the G7 countries, according to which younger people are less progressive in their views towards gender equality in leadership than their older counterparts, is pronounced in Japan and Germany.
Japanese people aged 55-65 have an Index score of 76, while the score for young people is only 58: this is the largest gap observed across all 22 countries. In Germany, the gap between younger and older age groups is 11 points.
With a four-point gap between the Index scores of its younger and older generations, the US is the G7 country with the smallest dissonance between the views of these two age groups.
Age group scores in all G7 countries
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: changes in G7 country scores by age group between 2021 and 2020
Across the G7 countries, Japan is the country whose Index scores have varied the most: the steep nine-point decrease in the score of its younger generation points to a risk of increasing prejudice.
However, at a country level, this drop is offset by the increased scores of both the 35-54 and 55-65 age groups, which explains the overall stability of Japan’s Index score.
Canada’s younger generation has also scored lower in 2021, with a four-point decrease vs 2020. In France, it is the score given for the 35-54 age group that has seen the biggest fall (down four points).
Conversely, for Italy, the overall increase in its 2021 Index score is driven by its older generation, whose score has increased by four points year on year.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: the changes in the views of all age groups by G7 country
Changes in G7 average scores by age group for women and men between 2021 and 2020
At the G7 level, the drop in the Index score of the 18-34 age group is mainly driven by the decrease in the score of young women, with a four-point drop compared to 2020 – while the score of young men has decreased by just one point.
The overall year-on-year stability of the G7 average Index score is due to the increased scores of the older generation, and particularly men aged 55-65 (+ three points vs 2020), whose score is now higher than the score given by young women across the G7.
The Index scores of both women and men aged 35-54 have remained stable year on year.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: changes in the G7 average score by age group for women and men
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: G7 country scores by age group for women and men
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: G7 country scores by age group for women and men
The age and gender distribution at G7 level shows both a generational shift (the Index increases with age) and a gender gap, with each age group showing a higher Index for women than for men.
At the country level however, there are significant disparities. Germany is the only country to replicate the G7 average pattern, although with significantly lower Index scores.
In other countries, the Index increases consistently with age for men, but the situation varies for women. In the UK, the Index is slightly lower for women aged 55-65, and in the United States, the Index is identical for women across all three age groups.
In France, and even more so in Italy, women in the 35 – 54 age group have a lower Index than the other two generations of women. While in Italy the gender gap is very small amongst 35-54 year olds, in France the gap between young men and young women is particularly high.
Japan is the most atypical G7 country, being the only one where the segment expressing the strongest gender stereotypes is young women.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: G7 country scores by sector
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022: sector scores by G7 country
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership ranks 23 sectors for their perceived suitability for both male and female leaders.
At the G7 level, Media & Entertainement, Natural Sciences, and Economics & Political Science remain the top three sectors where a large majority consider men and women to be equally suited to lead – as was the case in 2020. Similarly, we find the same five sectors at the bottom of our ranking in 2021 as in 2020.
Overall, sector-level perceptions of the suitability of individuals to hold positions of power, tend to be similar across the different G7 countries: there is very little variation in the ranking of sectors in each country, especially for those with either the highest or lowest Index scores.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership: G7 scores by sector for women and men
While women are more progressive than men in their views across each of the 23 sectors covered in our research, they also still show prejudice about gender and leadership. For instance, the Index scores of women for the Childcare, and Fashion & Beauty sectors are only 57 and 61 respectively.
Defence & Police is the sector where there is the largest level of dissonance between the views of women (68) and men (58), followed by Intelligence Services, and Engineering (both have an eight-point gap) - perhaps indicating that as more women enter these sectors, their views are evolving faster than men's.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021/2022 scores for the G7 per sector
Level of comfort with having a woman as Head of Government (G7 average scores)
On average, only 52% of people across the G7 say they are ‘very comfortable’ with having a woman as Head of Government, with women being more positively predisposed than men towards female leadership.
In 2021, only 47% of men across the G7 (+ one percentage point vs 2020) support the idea of having a woman as Head of Government, compared to 57% of women – which represents a drop of two percentage points vs 2020.
At a country level, a large majority of women in the UK (74%) and Canada (70%) are ‘very comfortable’ with having a woman as Head of Government, while only 37% of men in Japan and Germany agree with this statement.
Across countries, German citizens represent the highest proportion of people stating that they are not comfortable with having a woman as Head of Government (22% of German men and 15% of German women), followed by American men (15%).
Percentage of people in 2020 and 2021 who agree with the statement “I would feel very comfortable with a woman as the Head of Government in my country”
Level of comfort with having a Woman as CEO of a major company (G7 average scores)
In the G7, there has been no change year-on-year in the proportion of women who are very comfortable having a woman as a CEO of a major company while the proportion of men who say the same has increased by two percentage points, now nearly reaching 50%.
Nevertheless, the views about women in power as CEOs remain very similar to the perception of women as Heads of Government, with a 10-point gap between men and women.
Responses to this question broadly reflect the overall Index hierarchy across the G7: the UK, Canada and the US express the most progressive views; Germany and Japan are the two countries most affected by gender prejudices; and Italy and France sit in between.
However, the decline of the Index in France is not reflected in the answers to the question about a woman as CEO. In this country, the proportion of people feeling “very comfortable” with that perspective has increased by two points among men (46%) and five points among women (54%).
Overall, the degree of prejudice towards women in power is slightly lower when it comes to leading a big company than leading a government.
Percentage of people in 2020 to 2021 who agree with the statement “I would feel very comfortable with a woman as CEO of a major company in my country”
Methodological information
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership was launched in 2018, covering the G7 countries and 20 sectors of the economy. It was then repeated in 2019 and extended to cover the BRIC countries and two additional sectors. In 2020, the Reykjavík Index for Leadership was repeated, covering the G7 countries plus India, Kenya and Nigeria, and extended to cover 23 sectors.
This report focuses on the Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2021, which was undertaken in 22 countries covering G20 countries (including the G7 countries) as well as Iceland, Poland and Spain.
The Reykjavík Index for Leadership has been constructed based on research exploring the question:
“For each of the following sectors or industries, do you think men or women are better suited to leadership positions?”.
This question allows responses of ‘men’, ‘women’ and ‘both equally’ for 23 different economic and professional sectors. Aligned with our goal, a response of ‘both equally’ results in a point for that country within the Index, while a response of ‘men better suited’, ‘women better suited’ or ‘don’t know’ does not.
A country’s Reykjavík Index for Leadership is equal to the average proportion of people selecting ‘both equally’ across the 23 economic sectors. This is a measure of the extent to which, across society, men and women are viewed to be equally suitable for leadership.
For consistency between countries, the views of men and the views of women have each been given a 50% weight rather than a weight based on their exact population share (which varies slightly between countries). Similarly, the G7 and G20-wide versions of The Reykjavík Index weights each constituent country equally.
Overall sample
The total sample for the 2021 edition of the Index is 35,208. The sections below describe the sample sizes and data collection modes per country or group of countries.
G7 countries
The data source for the 2021 Index calculations is a Kantar survey of c.2,000 working-age adults (aged 18-65) conducted in each of the G7 countries (US, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, France and Italy) in August 2021, representing a total of c.14,000 people.
The samples have been weighted so that each country’s gender, age and education profile match the relevant population profile. Kantar’s online panel was used for data collection in each of the G7 countries.
G20 countries + Poland and Spain
The data source for the 2021 Index calculations is a Kantar survey of working-age adults (aged 18-65) conducted in each of the G20 countries in September 2021:
The samples have been weighted so that each country’s gender, age and education profile match the relevant population profile. The samples for India, China and Saudi Arabia were weighted so that each country’s gender and age match the relevant population profiles.
Kantar’s online panel was used for data collection in each of these countries except India (see next section).
The data source for the 2021 Index calculations for India is a Kantar survey of 5,368 working-age adults (aged 18-65). The survey in India was conducted between 4th and 20th August 2021, using CAPI for data collection.
The data was collected exclusively via face-to-face interviews, and with restricted geographical coverage. Samples were drawn from 10 states (2 states for each agro-climate region) of 32 states with data collected in both urban (40.3%) and rural (59.7%) areas.
In each state, two districts were selected purposively (one urban, one rural) and a variable number of city wards (urban districts) or villages (rural districts) were then selected in each district using random sampling methods.
The list of PSUs primary sampling unit) was selected using India census-2011. Quotas for gender crossed by age group were used in each village/city ward. The achieved sample size was 5,368, spread between 98 villages and 102 wards across 10 states.
Iceland
The data source for the 2021 Index calculations in Iceland is a survey of just over 2,000 working-age adults (aged 18-65), carried out between 3rd and 15th of September 2021 by the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), at the University of Iceland. The sample has been weighted so that the gender, age and education profile match the population profile. SSRI’s probability based online panel was used for data collection.
For any questions on the methodology, please contact public@kantar.com
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