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.
1: The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report 2021 measures the gap between women and men on multiple dimensions (education attainment, health and survival, economic participation, political empowerment) to produce a ranking of 156 countries.
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.
2: OECD: Women at the core of the fight against COVID-19 crisis
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.
