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talkpoliticsToday is International Women's Day. The 101st one, to be precise. One century and one year ago it all started as a series of demonstrations across Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark as an effort to promote equal rights for women, including suffrage. A century later, we could say that women have made huge strolls towards empowerment and equality. But there is still a lot of work to be done in many corners of the world.
A recent study in The Independent attempted to summarize the issue about the "best and worst" places to be a woman these days. It was done in the form of a compilation of places ranking top in certain aspects of women's rights. Of course it's impossible to say which place is "THE" best for being a woman, because that is a rather complex issue. But maybe we could learn some things from that list.
So which is the best place to be a female politician? You would probably venture with a guess about some Scandinavian country, or Australia and New Zealand, or Canada, etc. But surprise! It's Rwanda. The tiny African country has a 80-seat parliament, and 45 of those seats are occupied by women. It's currently the only country in the world where women are a majority in parliament. Meanwhile, in many Asian countries like Saudi Arabia there isn't even one woman in parliament. In the US Congress they're 17.25%, as of 2012.
And the best place to give birth? Well, the research concludes that surprisingly it's Greece, but after a more thorough research, I realized that other data points at infant mortality being even more negligible in other places like Singapore and Iceland (2.60 and 2.89 deaths per 1,000 live births). And in Afghanistan it's 55 times higher (144.01). The US is 34th with 7.07, just below Cuba, and way below Greece and New Caledonia, with very little actual improvement since the 80s.
The best place for a woman to make a business career is Thailand. The proportion of women in senior management there is 45%, but it's dropping worldwide in recent years. Thailand is closely followed by Georgia and then Russia. No surprise: in Russia women have had a major role in society ever since WW2. Surprisingly, in Japan that proportion is just 8%, which I give to the specific patriarchal nature of the Japanese society in general. The US is somewhere in between with 20%.
Japan compensates with the highest life expectancy rates for women in the world - 87 years (which is 7 years higher than men). Sadly, women in Lesotho and South Africa are at the bottom of this rank, 48 and 52 years respectively. The US ranks high there (81.3 years) but the trend is negative, mostly due to the gradually deteriorating health of Americans.
However, no doubt the best place to be a female athlete is the United States. American women regularly win the most medals in the Olympics, thanks to the great access to training facilities and generous funding in sports. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has never sent a woman to any international competition, let alone the Olympic games...
The country with the best-working reproductive policy is Sweden. Abortions are allowed without restrictions until the 18th week of pregnancy. Those heathens... At the other extreme are Nicaragua, the Philippines and El Salvador who have completely banned abortion under any circumstances. In the US of course this is one of the most sensitive issues, and generally the states decide autonomously.
The best place for high-skilled jobs for women is Jamaica - almost 60% of the high-qualification jobs there are female, unlike Yemen where this number is a meager 2%. The trend is very clear across the Arab world, where women are generally expected to stay at home. With a vast diversity in this respect, Lebanon and Morocco probably being the most modern.
Best place to be an artist? Sweden tops the list again, the government mandating an equal quota of cinema grants between the two genders. However there's still a huge disparity in the top-grossing movies worldwide, just 5% of them being made by women.
Best place for women's literacy compared to men's, suddenly: Lesotho! 95% female literacy to 83% male, which again is culturally determined IMO because of the specifics of the boSotho household (women spending a lot of time at home and having an opportunity for education). It's a small country that has a decent education system, despite the constantly looming demographic collapse due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic (2/5 of the people in Lesotho are affected). Meanwhile, another African country, Ethiopia is at the bottom of the female literacy ranking with a dismal 18%.
The research ends up with a conclusion that, despite the recent collapse of its financial system, Iceland still tops the list as the best place to be a woman, overall. That may sound a bit arbitrary, but consider this: Iceland is the country which had Europe's first female president, Vigdis Finnbogadóttir (ruled between 1980-1996). Now it has the first openly homosexual prime-minister, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir who, after Iceland legalized gay marriage, soon married her long-time female partner. Iceland is considering electing its first female Bishop of the national Church, Arnfridur Gudmundsdóttir. And as a whole, Iceland is considered the most female-friendly country on the planet. So, kudos Iceland!
I'd also add some key moments that were omitted in this research. Like Luxembourg being the country where women's income is the highest. It's actually pretty much equal with that of men. And the living standard in Luxembourg is extremely high anyway. No surprise, the disparity is biggest in Saudi Arabia, where women have 1/5 of men's income. Surprisingly, the best place for a woman to study in a university is Qatar. The women/men ratio of university students there is 6:1. But the problem is the lack of opportunities for economic integration after graduation.
Also, women in Denmark have the largest amounts of spare time, they only spend an average of 57 minutes a day more than men for doing unpaid work, mostly at home. And in Mexico it's 4 hrs 21 mins more than men.
The place where it's easiest for women to get a divorce? Guam. It has the highest divorce rate. Not that this is such a good thing necessarily, but it speaks of some freedom of choice. ;) And Guatemala is at the bottom in this respect.
Best place for making a breakthrough as a car driver - maybe India. An NGO in New Delhi has created a taxi service operated entirely by women. And that's quite a big city. No need to mention that women's driving rights are non-existent in Saudi Arabia. A woman would stand trial and be punished with beating if she dares to sit behind the steering wheel (under the utterly stupid pretext that this would "end virginity", WTF). We know the story of Shema who was about to get 10 lashes for that, and was spared the punishment only after King Abdullah intervened.
And a curious story. A man in Kazakhstan ordered 1 million roses for his wife for March 8. The couple had recently had a fight and he made the huge present to ask his significant other for forgiveness. I wish to all our ladies over here to be so loved! :)
A recent study in The Independent attempted to summarize the issue about the "best and worst" places to be a woman these days. It was done in the form of a compilation of places ranking top in certain aspects of women's rights. Of course it's impossible to say which place is "THE" best for being a woman, because that is a rather complex issue. But maybe we could learn some things from that list.
So which is the best place to be a female politician? You would probably venture with a guess about some Scandinavian country, or Australia and New Zealand, or Canada, etc. But surprise! It's Rwanda. The tiny African country has a 80-seat parliament, and 45 of those seats are occupied by women. It's currently the only country in the world where women are a majority in parliament. Meanwhile, in many Asian countries like Saudi Arabia there isn't even one woman in parliament. In the US Congress they're 17.25%, as of 2012.
And the best place to give birth? Well, the research concludes that surprisingly it's Greece, but after a more thorough research, I realized that other data points at infant mortality being even more negligible in other places like Singapore and Iceland (2.60 and 2.89 deaths per 1,000 live births). And in Afghanistan it's 55 times higher (144.01). The US is 34th with 7.07, just below Cuba, and way below Greece and New Caledonia, with very little actual improvement since the 80s.
The best place for a woman to make a business career is Thailand. The proportion of women in senior management there is 45%, but it's dropping worldwide in recent years. Thailand is closely followed by Georgia and then Russia. No surprise: in Russia women have had a major role in society ever since WW2. Surprisingly, in Japan that proportion is just 8%, which I give to the specific patriarchal nature of the Japanese society in general. The US is somewhere in between with 20%.
Japan compensates with the highest life expectancy rates for women in the world - 87 years (which is 7 years higher than men). Sadly, women in Lesotho and South Africa are at the bottom of this rank, 48 and 52 years respectively. The US ranks high there (81.3 years) but the trend is negative, mostly due to the gradually deteriorating health of Americans.
However, no doubt the best place to be a female athlete is the United States. American women regularly win the most medals in the Olympics, thanks to the great access to training facilities and generous funding in sports. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has never sent a woman to any international competition, let alone the Olympic games...
The country with the best-working reproductive policy is Sweden. Abortions are allowed without restrictions until the 18th week of pregnancy. Those heathens... At the other extreme are Nicaragua, the Philippines and El Salvador who have completely banned abortion under any circumstances. In the US of course this is one of the most sensitive issues, and generally the states decide autonomously.
The best place for high-skilled jobs for women is Jamaica - almost 60% of the high-qualification jobs there are female, unlike Yemen where this number is a meager 2%. The trend is very clear across the Arab world, where women are generally expected to stay at home. With a vast diversity in this respect, Lebanon and Morocco probably being the most modern.
Best place to be an artist? Sweden tops the list again, the government mandating an equal quota of cinema grants between the two genders. However there's still a huge disparity in the top-grossing movies worldwide, just 5% of them being made by women.
Best place for women's literacy compared to men's, suddenly: Lesotho! 95% female literacy to 83% male, which again is culturally determined IMO because of the specifics of the boSotho household (women spending a lot of time at home and having an opportunity for education). It's a small country that has a decent education system, despite the constantly looming demographic collapse due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic (2/5 of the people in Lesotho are affected). Meanwhile, another African country, Ethiopia is at the bottom of the female literacy ranking with a dismal 18%.
The research ends up with a conclusion that, despite the recent collapse of its financial system, Iceland still tops the list as the best place to be a woman, overall. That may sound a bit arbitrary, but consider this: Iceland is the country which had Europe's first female president, Vigdis Finnbogadóttir (ruled between 1980-1996). Now it has the first openly homosexual prime-minister, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir who, after Iceland legalized gay marriage, soon married her long-time female partner. Iceland is considering electing its first female Bishop of the national Church, Arnfridur Gudmundsdóttir. And as a whole, Iceland is considered the most female-friendly country on the planet. So, kudos Iceland!
I'd also add some key moments that were omitted in this research. Like Luxembourg being the country where women's income is the highest. It's actually pretty much equal with that of men. And the living standard in Luxembourg is extremely high anyway. No surprise, the disparity is biggest in Saudi Arabia, where women have 1/5 of men's income. Surprisingly, the best place for a woman to study in a university is Qatar. The women/men ratio of university students there is 6:1. But the problem is the lack of opportunities for economic integration after graduation.
Also, women in Denmark have the largest amounts of spare time, they only spend an average of 57 minutes a day more than men for doing unpaid work, mostly at home. And in Mexico it's 4 hrs 21 mins more than men.
The place where it's easiest for women to get a divorce? Guam. It has the highest divorce rate. Not that this is such a good thing necessarily, but it speaks of some freedom of choice. ;) And Guatemala is at the bottom in this respect.
Best place for making a breakthrough as a car driver - maybe India. An NGO in New Delhi has created a taxi service operated entirely by women. And that's quite a big city. No need to mention that women's driving rights are non-existent in Saudi Arabia. A woman would stand trial and be punished with beating if she dares to sit behind the steering wheel (under the utterly stupid pretext that this would "end virginity", WTF). We know the story of Shema who was about to get 10 lashes for that, and was spared the punishment only after King Abdullah intervened.
And a curious story. A man in Kazakhstan ordered 1 million roses for his wife for March 8. The couple had recently had a fight and he made the huge present to ask his significant other for forgiveness. I wish to all our ladies over here to be so loved! :)
(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 19:39 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 19:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:01 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:17 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:28 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:02 (UTC)Some surprising statistics, it's nice to hear positive news from Rwanda in particular.
(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 04:00 (UTC)And yes that's besides sumo wrestlers, dunno if that can properly be called obese since they train alot and build muscle as well as general weight.
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 06:44 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:21 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:31 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 21:10 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 01:57 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 20:31 (UTC)What would we poor dudes do without you?
(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 22:57 (UTC)Really horrible things like be forced to make our own sammiches.
And take out the trash without being told.
Unlearn fart etiquette....the list is endless!
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 04:05 (UTC)We need our fag hags!!!
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 07:02 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 21:13 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/3/12 22:58 (UTC)Foamy and tasty!
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 04:08 (UTC)Looks like someone just jizzed in his pants...
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 07:03 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 02:02 (UTC)Sexism is down. Equality is up.
Racism is down. Racial equality is up.
Gay bashing is down. Gay rights are up.
etc.
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 03:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 05:39 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 06:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 06:28 (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euXQbZDwV0w
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 07:05 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 07:14 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 04:09 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 05:42 (UTC)Then there are days when the future looks mighty bleak...
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/07/199224.html
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 03:26 (UTC)This is because we've become a nation who drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney, and shovels in disgusting crap food into our pieholes like Michael Moore.
UHC would never work here. It'd bankrupt the treasury trying to keep all the self-destructive douchebags alive.
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 04:22 (UTC)"Where are the fat jokes now!?!"
(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 05:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 07:08 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 07:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 12:44 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 03:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/3/12 05:10 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/3/12 00:18 (UTC)