Serbia Ranks 32nd in the World, Top in the Region by Women’s Status

Novi Sad, September 8 2021.(BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC/DS)

 Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden are the countries where women enjoy the best status, while Serbia ranks 32nd by the global Women Peace and Security (WPS) Index, published by the Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security on Oct. 24. 

Tracking women’s status through inclusion, justice (formal and informal discrimination) and security, the Institute has scored and ranked 177 countries in the world. With a score 0.835 Serbia placed 32nd, two positions up from the previous ranking in 2021/22, but lower than in 2019, when it ranked 24th. 

In the Western Balkans, Serbia is the leader, followed by Montenegro, ranking 41st, North Macedonia, 44th, Albania, 45th, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 55th, and Kosovo, 100th. The list is topped by Denmark, with a score of 0.932, followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Luxembourg. Women have the worst status in Afghanistan, Yemen and the Central African Republic. 

The Institute has conducted the research in collaboration with the Peace Research Institute Oslo measuring women’s status in three main dimensions – inclusion, justice and security across 13 indicators, from education and employment, parliamentary representation, access to justice, protection against discrimination, to domestic and political violence.