The Gender Pay Gap Will Close in Just 202 Short Years

Exciting news from the Global Gender Gap Report: Women are on track to earn the same amount as men in…202 years.

The report, released on Tuesday by the World Economic Forum, found that gender disparity overall—meaning across politics, work, health, and education—has actually improved slightly and that parity will be reached in just 108 years. Great! If you have a daughter RIGHT NOW, there’s some chance that she’ll catch a glimpse of true equality right before she closes her tired eyes to die.

But things are less positive when you look at the economic opportunity gap specifically, which is based on participation, pay, and advancement in the workforce. If the report is accurate, our progeny will be making the same amount regardless of gender by 2221, a year in which I’d hoped we’d have phased out men altogether, or at least left them behind with the mosquitoes on what’s left of our smoldering planet.

According to Anna-Karin Jatfors, regional director for UN Women, there isn’t a single country that’s achieved parity, regardless of development, region or type of economy. “Gender inequality is the reality around the world, and we’re seeing that in all aspects of women’s lives,” she told Bloomberg, adding that “202 years is too long a wait” for economic equity. Governments can help instigate change with equal pay policies, investment in parent and elder care infrastructure, and by giving women legal protections including job security during pregnancy.

While no country was deemed totally equitable, Iceland came the closest, nabbing the top spot for the 10th year in a row. (The U.S. was ranked 51.) Is it a coincidence that Reykjavik is home to the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which houses a vast collection of phallic specimens that might someday be useful for educational purposes once the real things become extinct? I don’t know!