New Zealand v Norway – on the equality indices

With New Zealand due to kick off against Norway today in the Women’s Football World Cup, looking at their rankings in the Women’s Peace & Security Index, Norway come out on top, while New Zealand is 13^th in the index (and 9^th among those appearing in the Football World Cup. See the rankings here.

HOWEVER, in the alternative Women's Workplace Equality Index, New Zealand comes up third (after Australia and Canada) with a 93.6/100 score based on a range of measures such as Accessing institutions, Building credit, Getting a job, and Protecting women from violence (where NZ scores poorly actually). This measures the formal legal obstacles to women’s economic participation, not actual participation. "While there is often a large gap between laws on the books and their implementation, formal legal equality is a critical first step to closing the gap between women and men in the economy." 

However, for a close match on the gender equality front – go to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2021 which has Norway and New Zealand at 3^rd (84.95) and 4^th(84%) respectively – after Iceland and Finland (not represented at the World Cup).

On the sporting front, I’d be looking for a close game between NZ and Norway tonight, two of my favourite countries, and with many similarities. But NZ must come out on top!