Best Countries for Women in the Workforce

Which countries are making strides towards a workforce that supports women at every stage of their careers?

To find out, we scored 39 countries according to things like political parity, female entrepreneurship, education for women, average salaries and more.

Top 10 Best Countries to Work as a Woman

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Country	Political power score	% of women in C-suite positions	Female entrepreneur score	Women in STEM score	Education score	Year of Women’s Suffrage	Financial inclusion %	Labour force participation %	Maternity leave in weeks	Gender pay gap %	Total Score
Norway	63	36	3	7	9	1913	100	60	18	5	392
New Zealand	62	40	4	8	10	1893	99	65	26	7	384
Finland	69	32	5	8	9	1906	100	56	18	16	362
Iceland	N/A	33	8	8	10	1915	92	62	26	13	350
Denmark	44	28	4	7	9	1915	100	58	18	5	339
Estonia	30	34	10	9	9	1918	98	57	14	20	338
Australia	41	36	6	8	10	1902	99	61	12	10	336
Sweden	69	40	4	7	9	1919	100	62	13	7	336
Ireland	38	31	5	7	9	1918	95	57	26	8	322
Slovenia	37	42	4	8	9	1945	97	54	15	8	309

Nordic countries come out on top

With the highest average scores across the board, Norway ranks first as the best country in the world for women in the workforce, followed closely by New Zealand in second place.

Within the top-scoring countries, Nordic countries come out on top overall, with Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Estonia all within the top six.

Norway’s ranking is in line with other findings and statistics. The country’s OECD Better Life Index shows excellent levels of gender equality in categories like jobs, education, civic engagement and overall lifestyle satisfaction. Norway also outranked 99 other countries in the Women’s Liveability Score.

New Zealand, Finland, and Iceland have high scores in education and women in STEM categories. This indicates that these countries provide ample opportunities for women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and have strong educational systems.

Several countries on the list had early milestones in women’s suffrage. Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark achieved women’s suffrage before or in 1915, demonstrating their historical commitment to gender equality.

The top-ranked countries generally have high financial inclusion percentages and labour force participation rates for women. This suggests that women in these countries have access to financial services and job opportunities, enabling them to participate actively in the workforce.

All Countries Ranked

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Rank	Country	Political power score	% of women in C-suite positions	Female entrepreneurship score	Women in STEM score	Education score	Year of Women’s Suffrage	Financial inclusion %	Labour force participation %	Avg. payment rate during maternity leave %	Maternity leave in weeks	Gender pay gap %
1	Norway	63	36	3	7	9	1913	100	60	100	18	5
2	New Zealand	62	40	4	8	10	1893	99	65	49	26	7
3	Finland	69	32	5	8	9	1906	100	56	75	18	16
4	Iceland	N/A	33	8	8	10	1915	92	62	71	26	13
5	Denmark	44	28	4	7	9	1915	100	58	51	18	5
6	Estonia	30	34	10	9	9	1918	98	57	100	14	20
7	Australia	41	36	6	8	10	1902	99	61	43	12	10
8	Sweden	69	40	4	7	9	1919	100	62	78	13	7
9	Ireland	38	31	5	7	9	1918	95	57	26	26	8
10	Slovenia	37	42	4	8	9	1945	97	54	100	15	8
11	Canada	48	35	5	7	9	1918	100	61	40	16	17
12	Switzerland	53	31	7	7	9	1971	99	62	54	14	14
13	Netherlands	49	26	4	7	9	1919	100	62	100	16	13
14	Germany	44	28	4	7	9	1918	99	57	100	14	14
15	Latvia	37	44	5	8	9	1918	93	55	80	16	24
16	Lithuania	44	38	4	8	9	1918	81	57	78	18	9
17	United Kingdom	36	34	5	7	9	1928	96	58	30	39	14
18	Spain	59	31	4	7	8	1931	92	53	100	16	4
19	Israel	25	35	5	7	9	1948	94	59	100	26	24
20	United States	41	41	6	7	9	1920	96	55	0	0	17
21	Poland	31	38	3	7	9	1918	88	49	100	20	9
22	Austria	50	29	3	7	9	1918	98	56		16	12
23	Portugal	57	30	4	7	8	1931	91	54	100	6	12
24	Croatia	39	28	4	7	9	1945	83	46	100	56	4
25	Belgium	60	33	3	7	9	1948	99	50	65	15	1
26	Hungary	25	38	3	6	9	1918	72	52	100	24	12
27	France	61	33	3	7	9	1944	91	52	91	16	15
28	Slovak Republic	25	30	3	7	9	1920	83	55	75	34	12
29	Italy	40	22	4	7	8	1945	92	40	80	22	9
30	Bulgaria	35	39	3	7	9	1944	74	49	90	110	4
31	Czech Republic	30	24	3	7	9	1920	79	52	64	28	12
32	Chile	38	28	5	5	8	1949	61	44	100	18	9
33	Costa Rica	74	31	3	4	8	1949	80	48	100	17	5
34	Colombia	30	21	4	4	7	1954	43	52	100	18	3
35	South Korea	25	12	2	8	9	1948	95	53	84	13	31
36	Greece	14	30	2	8	8	1952	85	43	65	43	6
37	Japan	14	17	2	7	9	1947	98	53	67	14	22
38	Mexico	62	36	3	3	7	1953	33	44	100	12	13
39	Turkey	15	17	2	6	6	1930	54	32	100	16	10

Belgium has the lowest gender wage gap

Norway doesn’t come out on top in every aspect. Belgium has the lowest gender wage gap at only 1.2%, while the gender pay gap in Norway is 4.6%

South Korea has the worst gender wage gap in the OECD. It also has the fewest women in senior and middle management positions (12%).

Costa Rica has the best political parity

Costa Rica comes first on our list for equal representation in politics. Women held 46% of legislative seats following the 2018 election. According to Freedom House, the nation enjoys broad political freedom across all sectors of society.

Japan and Greece come joint last with the lowest political parity scores.  In Japan just 22% of politicians are women, and Greece had to wait until 2020 for a female prime minister.

Croatia offers the best maternity benefits

The United States comes dead last for pregnant working women without statutory paid maternity leave.

16 countries on our list offer an average 100% salary for women during maternity leave: Norway, Estonia, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey and Israel.

Croatia comes out on top in general maternity benefits as, even after a mother returns to work, she may qualify for shorter working hours and breastfeeding breaks.

Norway is the best for safety

Norway came out on top in this category, the country has a generally low crime rate. With its gang violence, Mexico had the poorest perception of community safety on our list.

Some of the lower-ranked countries on the list excel in certain areas, with room for improvement in others. Here’s a look at the top scorers across 10 of our metrics:

Metric	#1 Country	Score
Political parity	Costa Rica	74/100
% Women in C-Level positions	Latvia	44%
Female entrepreneurship	Estonia	10/10
Women in STEM	Estonia	8.57/10
Perception of community safety	Norway	89.5
Education score	Australia	9.71/10
Extent of financial inclusion	Norway/Denmark/Sweden	100%
Female labour force participation	New Zealand	65.07%
Cost of childcare score	Sweden	89**
% Gender wage gap	Belgium	1.2%

Other key findings:

In our overall scores, the United Kingdom and United States ranked 17^th and 20^th, respectively. Both have high education scores (9.21 and 9.33) and high rates of financial inclusion (96.1) but low rates of maternity leave and pay.

Legislative and social change alike can drive countries towards more inclusive practices, creating a fairer working environment for women that values all employees equally. We hope to see more countries on this list score higher in the years to come.

Methodology

To work out which country is the best place to work as a woman, we scored each of the 39 OECD countries on the following key factors:

–              Political parity (women in political positions up to 50%)

–              Percentage of women in C-suite level positions

–              Female entrepreneurship (number of businesses started or headed by women)

–              Women in STEM (number of female STEM graduates and mathematics and science test results in school)

–              Education level (in comparison to men)

–              Year of women’s suffrage(when women were allowed to vote) ^†

–              Extent of financial inclusion (how much

–              Female labour force participation

–              Average payment rate during maternity leave

–              Length of maternity leave (in weeks)

–              Gender wage gap percentage (the average difference in how much less a woman is paid compared to a man in the same or similar role)