The United States has never topped PwC's Women in Work Index — but it performed notably worse in the most recent ranking, sinking four spots.
In 2019, PwC ranked the United States 22nd out of 33 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, regarding its parity for working women. The U.S.' ranking fell to 26th in 2020 — the most recent index — indicative of COVID-19's hefty toll on American women.
The U.S.' four-spot fall was the second-largest drop behind Canada's.
The index ranks each country on a variety of labor market indicators: the gender pay gap, female labor force participation rate and its difference from the male participation rate, and female unemployment and full-time employment rates.
The U.S.' score was largely affected by unemployment rates: American women's unemployment rates doubled from 2019 to 2020, from 4 percent to 8 percent.
Here is how the rest of the countries stacked up:
1. New Zealand
2. Luxembourg
3. Slovenia
4. Sweden
5. Iceland
6. Norway
7. Portugal
8. Denmark
9. United Kingdom
10. Finland
11. Poland
12. Belgium
13. Australia
14. Switzerland
15. Ireland
16. Netherlands
17. Estonia
18. Israel
19. Germany
20. Canada
21. Czech Republic
22. Hungary
23. France
24. Austria
25. Slovak Republic
26. United States
27. Japan
28. Spain
29. Italy
30. Greece
31. Chile
32. Mexico
33. South Korea