The Female Opportunity Index 2021
An analysis of gender equality in 100 countries looking at advancements in female leadership within government, corporations, STEM and entrepreneurship, as well as success enablers like access to education and parental leave.

While there is no denying how difficult the last year has been for everyone, the pandemic has shone a light on many existing inequalities—not least between men and women in the workplace and beyond. Early estimates suggest that globally, women are more likely to have lost their job due to COVID-19 as compared to men, and have taken on the majority of childcare and education at home while schools were closed. Added to this is the fact that 70% of health workers around the world are female.

Despite these enormous challenges, we’ve also seen amazing female heads of government leading the world in the way they’ve managed the pandemic, as well as incredible women who continue to take the lead towards gender equality while determining their future both personally and professionally.
At N26 this is something we are passionate about. We firmly believe that we all need to work together to level the playing field. That's why we're on a journey to understand where we can champion change and make a difference. To explore this further we decided to commission a study looking into workplace achievements, and the factors that drive female independence. While there is still much work to be done, the results celebrate the countries that encourage female opportunity and where women are thriving in governmental leadership, management, entrepreneurship and more.
says Adrienne Gormley, Chief Operating Officer at N26.
The science part
The index began by selecting 100 countries around the world, across all continents, with comparable data on women in the workplace. To establish the level of gender parity from the very top, we first investigated how many years a country has been governed by a woman since 1970, as well as the total number of women in governmental or parliamentary positions. Next, we looked at women in managerial positions, as well as data around female entrepreneurs in each country, to determine which nations help to foster the strongest female leadership opportunities and achievements. Our research then turned to the number of women in the typically male-dominated STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We focused not only on those actively studying, but also on the percentage of women actually working in that field after graduation. Next, we explored the average salary and the gender wage gap in each country. The data was complemented by investigating female access to education as an important indicator and enabler of opportunity, as well as legislation such as a woman’s right to divorce, workplace discrimination laws and more. Finally, a country’s attitude towards starting a family and how that interacts with work is a clear expression of gender parity, so we included the total days of maternity leave allowed in each country. The total score takes into consideration all of these data points to determine which countries are most successfully leveling the playing field, and which still have some way to go to improve women’s access to equal opportunities.“At N26 we firmly believe that everyone, regardless gender, should have the opportunity and freedom to live the lives they chose. And yes, there’s much more to life than money, but we think it’s a good place to start. When we feel in control of our finances, we feel more confident, more independent and more optimistic about our future, helping us to reach our full potential,”
“We want to understand what can hold women back when it comes to being financially confident, to understand the drivers behind financial independence, and see how we can help to make a difference.”
Instructions for journalists
The final ranking displays the countries in order from highest score to lowest. Each individual column is filterable, and the full methodology explaining how each factor was evaluated is at the bottom of the page.Top countries in the ranking for female opportunity
1. Norway
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2. Finland
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3. Iceland
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International results
