If you are a woman – or ever plan on living with one – read carefully. This might influence your future.
We all know that there is no real equality between men and women in today’s world. What is also sure, is that there are countries which are a little closer to achieving equality than others.
The Daily Beast has recently published a list of the best places to be a woman. They were trying to “determine which countries offer women the most expansive rights and the best quality of life.” Before you continue reading. This would be the moment to do some guessing. Which countries do you think are providing the best living standards for women?
Their judgement followed the analysis of the following factors:
- JUSTICE – or if there are laws which protect women economically and against violence.
- HEALTH – or how statistically healthy women are in a country and their access to health care
- EDUCATION – or how literate women in a country are
- ECONOMICS – or how equal the opportunities are for both genders in all different sectors
- POLITICS – or how many women there are in the government and in which positions
So, I guess you are all waiting for the results. Unfortunately, they are not surprising at all. Top five are:
- Iceland (highest score on justice together with Canada)
- Sweden
- Canada (highest score on justice together with Iceland)
- Denmark
- Finland (highest score in politics)
As far as the other factors go: Norway (7) has the highest score on health whereas China (23) shows the highest score on education. Surprising are the top-scorers for economy: Rwanda (38), Burundi (64) & Gambia (108) are very favourable for women in economy. Generally, African countries have high economy scores.
I decided to check out some of the countries I have lived in: Switzerland scores 6. and that because it is comparably low on politics the same as the Netherlands (10, very high education score). New Zealand (11) is low on justice and Germany (30) has a bad score because of politics just like Italy (59) who also loses out because of economics. It is closely followed by Argentina (low on politics and health).
Appartently, the worst countries for women are Yemen (very low on politics), Afghanistan (low on justice and health) and Chad (scoring especially bad on health and education).
What do you think about this ranking? Do you agree on how your country scored?
Picture by Kali Sánchez, thank you!
Kosmos 9 
Curiously the US is not among the top five. This is a subject close to my wife’s heart and hence, close to mine. Knowing the fabulously abundant opportunities available to American women, it’s amazing how few avail themselves. Especially when so many women in other places lack even basic freedoms… Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
Hey Kenny, the US is definitely not doing bad for its female half of the population (compared to others) but there is space for improvement. I don’t think it is as easy as women not taking the chances they get, I’m sure there is more it.
Many “western” countries have interesting disparities between education and what it turns into in politics and economy. To me it was not at all surprising to see that we have to turn towards Scandinavia to see how it could work. Let’s see where this whole story goes. Thanks for your comment!
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