While Iceland is the first country to outlaw the gender pay gap, the rest of the world is seeing a bigger divide than ever

Despite efforts to close the gender wage gap, it's getting bigger.
Women now earn on average 57% of what men earn globally.
Some countries like Iceland and the UK have national initiatives aimed at increasing pay equality.
Financially, countries and the world would benefit from closing the gender pay gap.

On January 1, Iceland became the first country in the world to pass legislation with real teeth outlawing the gender pay gap.

According to Al Jazeera, companies and government agencies that employ more than 25 people must obtain a government certificate demonstrating pay parity, or else they will face fines.

Despite these initiatives, however, the global gender pay gap is widening.

According to WEF's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report, while men around the world earn on average $21,000 a year, women earn $12,000 a year. This means that globally women earn about 57% of what men earn.

At the rate things are going, WEF predicts the economic gap between men and women won't be closed for another 217 years.

If not for altruism's sake, leaders around the world have a financial incentive to take a note of what Iceland has done and work towards closing the gender pay gap in their country.

According to WEF's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report, "economic gender parity could add an additional $250 billion to the GDP of the United Kingdom, $1,750 billion to that of the United States, $550 billion to Japan's, $320 billion to France's, and $310 billion to the GDP of Germany." What's more, "the world as a whole could increase global GDP by $5.3 trillion by 2025 if it closed the gender gap in economic participation by 25% over the same period."

Based on the same WEF report, here's a look at what percentage women earn compared to men's earnings in the 35 OECD countries: