In 1959, Fidel Castro imposed a ban on the sale of residential property in Cuba. For more than fifty years after this decision was made, the only way that Cubans could move was to exchange properties on the basis of similarity. A new property should not be different from the old one in terms of square footage or style. And even if a family had the need to expand their living space and, more importantly, the means to do so, it would not have been legally possible. At the same time, other families could have housing that was too large for their needs. For example, childless families or older couples might prefer to live in a modestly sized apartment, but the paradox was that this exchange was impossible. In addition, according to one unofficial estimate, by 2011 there were about 200,000 units of vacant housing on the island, despite the fact that about a third of Cubans had to squeeze into a few square meters of living space each. According to the 2012 census, the Cuban population (11.2 million) lives in 3.9 million housing units, meaning that there is an average of 2.8 inhabitants per unit.

We wrote about the economically unequal position of women and the gender wage gap in the February issue, stating that this is a topical issue for all countries, both developed and developing. The issue of equal gender participation in the political decision-making process is even more acute. Historically, women have always been outsiders in the political arena, and until the 20th century they did not have the legal right to vote. Women began to gradually make inroads into politics once they won suffrage rights. At least three women always appear in rankings of outstanding political figures from the 20th century: Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, and Benazir Bhutto. But in the perception of many, female heads of state are still the exception to the rule.

The combination of the terms “rapidly developing” and “economy” were used exclusively to describe the Asian Tigers and the BRICS countries just five years ago. But today, to the surprise of many, there are several new growth leaders on the African continent. The IMF paints a good picture of this trend, according to which six of the top ten fastest growing economies (by GDP growth compared to the previous year) for 2001-2010 were African (Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique, and Rwanda) and seven of the top ten projected fastest growing countries for 2011-2015 (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Zambia, and Nigeria). Thanks to these countries, the entire continent’s economy is expected to grow by 6% in 2014. It’s clear that most of the success of the “African lions” is due directly to profits from energy exports.

By the end of 2013, the BRICS countries received more than 20% of total FDI globally; twice as much as in pre-crisis years. This group of countries has thus shown that they are still of interest to investors and are cooperating to develop investment activity. $322 billion was invested in these five countries, which is 21% higher than a year earlier. In terms of total FDI, South Africa stands much lower than the others, even though there was a 126% increase. Though FDI in Brazil is high, it fell 4% last year.

Sadika Hameed, CSIS fellow, Program on Crisis, Conflict and Cooperation spoke with WEJ on the future of the Pakistan-China relations and its impact on the regional geopolitical and economic stability.
Ms. Hameed, how would assess the current state of Pakistan-China relations?
Relations between China and Pakistan are certainly close and continue to grow especially with regard to military and economic ties. These ties could possibly expand even further if China grows closer to Central Asia and wants overland access to the Arabian Sea. However, this must be viewed in a wider context with a pragmatic China and its ambitions regionally and globally to understand potential implications for the United States. China will continue to view Pakistan as a strategic ally but will carefully balance it with a growing India which is a major trading partner for them. For example, China-India trade is larger than India’s trade with the United States. Similarly, India will balance its relationship with the United States, now a close partner and ally, for economic and security reasons as well. While China and India may both also compete with each other, regional stability is vital for their regional and global ambitions.

Though no country has yet to achieve absolute gender equality, in 2013 the closest were the Northern European nations. These findings come from the Global Gender Gap Index, published annually by the World Economic Forum. What is the secret to success for the Northern European countries, and who got an “F” this year?
The Global Gender Gap Index 2013 from the World Economic Forum included 136 countries, whose combined population accounts for 93% of the global population. The index was designed to assess gender differences in countries regardless of their level of development, in a way that would yield objective results. Assessing gender inequality is measured in four key areas, where each country is ranked from one (equality) to zero (inequality) and then is given an overall score, which is a percentage of how much the country has managed to close its gender gap. The first area assessed by WEF analysts is the economic participation and opportunity of women, which is measured using criteria such as gender wage equality, female labor force participation, and the ratio of women in high-paying professions. Globally, inequality in this indicator is quite noticeable, with only 60% of the gap closed. An even wider gap can be seen in the second area of the ranking, women’s political rights and opportunities (gap closed by 21%), though that figure has risen 2% from last year. But the gaps in education and health on a global level are hardly noticeable and nearly closed at 93% and 97%, respectively. Furthermore, 25 countries earned the designation of completely equal in education. Overall, since the index was first published in 2006, 80% of the countries have made progress towards equality.
It’s interesting that in the eight years the index has been compiled, the most progress towards closing the gender gap was achieved by Latin American countries: Nicaragua improved by 17.4% since 2006, Bolivia by 16.9%, and Ecuador by 14.9%.