South Africa is a good place to be a woman.
That is if you believe the 2014 World Economic Forum's global gender gap report, which ranks South Africa 18 out of 142 countries for gender parity in politics, health, education and economics.
But local experts claim the experience of women still lags far behind that of men, especially when it comes to personal safety.
Released last week, the report quantifies gender-based disparities and measures equality in health, education, economy and politics.
According to the report, in nine years there has only been a small improvement in equality for women in the workplace worldwide.
The gap for economic participation and opportunity worldwide is 60% , down only 4% since 2006.
"Based on this trajectory, with all else remaining equal, it will take 81 years for the world to close this gap completely," the report says.
The narrowest gap is in health (96% globally), followed by educational attainment (94% globally).
Iceland is the most gender-equal country, and the Nordic countries are the world's most gender-equal societies.
South Africa obtained its position largely due to strong scores in political participation and near equal ratios in health and survival.
In terms of political empower- ment, the country ranks 12, but there is a huge disparity in terms of income and wages.
Sonke Gender Justice Network spokesman Mbuyiselo Botho says the report means legislation governing gender equality is improving. "But an important aspect is crime. Women are vulnerable not only in their homes, but in the workplace and society at large," Botho says.
Political economics analyst Daniel Silke says the study does not address gender-based crimes such as rape.
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