More men than women have full-time jobs

Globally, more men than women have full-time employment - a gap that remained just as wide in 2013 as it was about five years ago.

According to Gallup's Payroll to Population (P2P) report, 34% of adult men globally have full-time work, compared to only 18% of adult women.

The deficit of women in good jobs is the largest in South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where women's employment rates lag behind men's by 20%.

Roughly three in four women in each region are out of the workforce, many choosing not to participate for cultural or political reasons, the report cited.

That translates to about 33% of men employed full-time, compared to just 9% of women, in South Asia. East Asia is doing marginally better at a deficit of -14% (35% of men employed versus 21% of women).

The study interviewed 136,000 adults (aged over 15 years) across 136 countries and defined working for an employer for at least 30 hours a week as "full-time" employment.

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The study found only two countries in the world where the percentage of women employed full-time exceeds 50% - Sweden and Iceland - while the rate for men is 50% or higher in 11 countries.

Sweden is also the only country to have achieved gender parity in full-time employment - 54% of adult women compared to 53% of adult men are employed full-time.

Interestingly, women's deficit in good jobs is the smallest (6%) in sub-Saharan Africa, but P2P rates are also among the lowest in the world for both women and men in this region, where only 14% of adult men and 8% of adult women are employed.

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