The Global Gender Gap Report of 2025, published by the World Economic Forum in June, shows that it will take an estimated 185 years to achieve gender parity in the Middle East and North Africa. Lebanon ranked 136th out of 148 countries, reflecting both the region’s slow progress and its deep-rooted gender disparities, especially in politics and the workforce.
Globally, the report shows that about 68.8% of the gender gap has been closed, marking a slight improvement from previous years. At the current pace, it is estimated that achieving gender parity worldwide will take about 123 years.
MENA: The Slowest-Progressing Region
In this context, the Middle East and North Africa region ranks 8th globally, holding the lowest regional gender parity score of 61.7%. Despite having the lowest regional score, the region continues to show signs of gradual improvement over time.
Lebanon Scores High in Education, Low in Representation
Amidst this gradual improvement, Lebanon reports an overall gender parity score of 0.632, placing it 136th out of 148 countries. This score indicates that Lebanon has made significant progress in specific areas, such as educational attainment and health, while still facing challenges
in economic participations, opportunity, and political empowerment.
In terms of educational attainment, Lebanon scored 0.989, indicating that men and women have nearly equal access to education. Similarly, in health and survival, it scored 0.972, reflecting near parity in health outcomes between men and women.
Lebanon’s economic participation and political empowerment gaps
While women in Lebanon excel in school and university, they face greater barriers in translating those achievements into economic opportunities. Lebanon’s score for economic participation and opportunity is 0.535, reflecting an ongoing gap in employment, wages, and leadership roles.
Nada Anid, Founder of Madanyat For Equality, a Lebanese nonprofit organization dedicated to gender equality, civic engagement, and inclusive advocacy, explains:
“We know that many women leave the workforce not only after marriage, but especially when they have children. This isn’t just a personal choice — it’s a result of missing policies. There are no state-level measures for childcare, transportation, or even a supportive work environment. Balancing home life with everything else becomes incredibly difficult.”
Similarly, in the area of political empowerment, the score is 0.032, which indicates that women hold fewer positions in political leadership and decision-making roles. Anid emphasises that it is due to a lack of gender-sensitive policies in the Lebanese political parties and the low percentage of participation.
She adds, “political parties and even new movements don’t nominate women, not even in preferential electoral lists. Women might be very active in university or protests, but when it comes to real decision-making roles, they are not nominated.”
Implementation of gender quota and workplace systemic change
As Lebanon continues to rank low in political empowerment and economic participation, some local organizations are pushing for concrete reforms to address the root causes of these disparities. According to Anid, targeted policy changes in both political representation and workplace infrastructure are essential to ensuring long-term gender parity.
“Political quotas are a temporary measure to change how political parties operate, not necessarily how people think. Awareness must be raised among decision-makers and political stakeholders. It’s impossible to move forward without it,” states Anid, who thinks that the quota can be removed later, once the system of ensuring fair representation and political contribution for Lebanese women and men is established.
In parallel, efforts to improve gender parity must also extend beyond political representation to address the structural challenges women face in the workplace. This includes adding “Large companies, that should be forced to think about how to support employees’ lives, not just performance.”
