In its 2008 Global Gender Gap report, the think tank ranked Norway, Finland and Sweden as the countries with the greatest equality between the sexes, while Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen were the least equal.

Averaging 130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reached near-parity with their male peers in educational attainment, health and survival, in both rich and poor countries.

But economically, in terms of workforce participation and earning opportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gap between the sexes remains large.

"The world's women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but are nowhere to be found in terms of decision-making," said Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss-based think tank best known for its Davos summit held in January.

"Given that women have almost closed the gap with men on health and education, it is a waste of their talents if they are not catching up in economics and politics," she said.

The report uses United Nations and other data to weigh how evenly each country shares its resources and opportunities between men and women.

Outside the Nordic region, which traditionally scores well on measures of gender parity, New Zealand placed fifth, in part because of its female political empowerment including the tenure of Helen Clark as prime minister.

The Philippines, whose president is a woman, followed in sixth place, and Ireland, the Netherlands, and Latvia placed eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

The United States ranked 27th, ahead of its neighbor Canada for the first time since the gender gap report was launched three years ago. Canada fell 13 spots to 31st place.

Trinidad, Argentina and Cuba were rated highest among Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Lesotho was the top-rated African state in gender parity.

世界经济论坛于本周三称，虽然女性在受教育和医疗方面已与男性接近平等，但女性在高层政治和决策领域仍落后于男性，这对于她们的才能是一种浪费。

在该论坛发布的“2008全球性别差异报告”中，挪威、芬兰和瑞典被评为性别平等度最高的国家，而沙特、乍得和也门是则性别差异最显著的国家。

该报告通过计算130个国家的平均得分发现，无论在发达国家还是贫困国家，如今女性在受教育、医疗和生存方面所享受的权利都与男性基本相当。

但从就业和工作机遇等经济维度和掌握要职等政治维度两方面衡量，性别差异仍然很大。

世界经济论坛的萨迪亚?扎西迪说：“如今全世界女性的受教育和健康水平已不亚于男性，但在高层决策领域女性仍然很少。”世界经济论坛总部位于瑞士，每年1月份的“达沃斯论坛”就是由该智囊机构举办。

她说：“现在女性在健康和受教育方面的水平已接近于男性，但如果女性在经济和政治领域无法与男性齐平，那是对她们才能的浪费。”

该报告主要根据联合国及其它一些数据评估各国在资源和机会分配方面的性别差异。

北欧地区在性别平等度方面的得分向来较高，新西兰名列第五，这一定程度上是因为海伦?克兰克担任该国总理及其他一些女性任政界要职。

女性任总统的菲律宾位居第六；爱尔兰、荷兰和拉脱维亚分别位居第八、第九和第十位。

美国名列第27位，这是该报告发布三年来美国首次超过其邻国加拿大。加拿大下跌13个榜位，跌至第31位。

特立尼达、阿根廷和古巴位居拉美和加勒比海地区前列，莱索托是非洲性别差异最小的国家。