101st International Women’s Day – the best and worst places to be a woman
THE Independent has a cover story about what it is to be a women as the 101st International Women’s Day looms:
Revealed: The best and worst places to be a woman
One would hazard to say in the kitchen /bedroom (best) and playing up front for Manchester United.
The answers are something else.
When more than half of the world’s population wakes up on Thursday – the y – it will be hard to know whether to celebrate or give in to despair.
Micky Dolenz, Gyles Brandreth, Cheryl Baker and Arsenal defender Andre Santos will celebrate. It’s their birthdays.
As for despair, well, it is Help Fight Liver Disease” Month, National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, National Epilepsy Month, National Kidney Month, National Nutrition Month, Red Cross Month, Supply Management Month and Endometriosis Awareness Month. There is much competition for days among sponsors.
The Indy presses on:
A British woman will face the prospect of at least 14 more general elections before women equal men in the Commons.
Poor cow. (It’s hard not to be glib when the writing is so soupy.)
But a woman in Qatar will be six times more likely to go to university than the man next door.
What is he moves? (See above.)
Here The Independent on Sunday explores the best places to be a woman today.
1. Best place to be a woman: Iceland
Did you ask women in, say, New York, London or a sun lounger in Marbella?
Iceland has the greatest equality between men and women, taking into account politics, education, employment and health indicators. The UK comes in at 16th place, down one since 2010. The worst is Yemen, and the most dangerous is Afghanistan.
2. Best place to be a politician: Rwanda
Oh, come on!
Rwanda is the only nation in which females make up the majority of parliamentarians. Women hold 45 out of 80 seats. The UK comes in at 45th place, behind Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. The worst countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Oman and Belize, have no women in parliament
This survey is nuts. The best place to be a politician is Rwanda, better than the UN or the EU gravy boat?
The BBC:
Although after 1959 the ethnic relationship was reversed, when civil war prompted around 200,000 Tutsis to flee to Burundi, lingering resentment led to periodic massacres of Tutsis.
The most notorious of these began in April 1994. The shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, and his Burundian counterpart, near Kigali triggered what appeared to be a coordinated attempt by Hutus to eliminate the Tutsi population.
3. Best place to be a mother: Norway
Norway is the world’s best place to be a mother, with low risks of maternal mortality – one in 7,600 – and skilled help at nearly all births. The UK is ranked 13th.
Then the snow comes, the sun vanishes and you and the nipper are in all winter. What’s not to enjoy?
4. Best place to read and write: Lesotho
Authors and pushy mums. You know the way.
Literacy rates among women in Lesotho exceed those of men, with 95 per cent of women able to read and write, compared with 83 per cent of men. The UK is ranked 21st.
5. Best place to be head of state: Sri Lanka
Vatican?
Women have run Sri Lanka for 23 years. The UK comes in at seventh place, while dozens of countries, including Spain and Sweden, have never had a female head of government.
The BBC:
After more than 25 years of violence, the conflict appeared to be at an end – at least militarily – in May 2009, when government forces seized the last area controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.
6. Best place to be a woman in the arts: Sweden
The Swedish Arts Council has launched initiatives to improve gender equality in the arts. The Swedish Film Institute mandates that film grants be distributed evenly between men and women and there are quotas for women in film production. In the UK, only 6 per cent of film directors and 12 per cent of screenwriters are women.
Does Sweden or Britain make the greatest films? You may care to debate that. The rest of you will just watch an American film, although The Artist (French) is very good.
7. Best place to be a top dog: Thailand
Thailand has the greatest percentage of women in senior management (45 per cent).
Search “women in Thailand” on the web and see what Google coughs up.
8. Best place to give birth: Greece
Oh, to be born a Greek and to spend your life working for the Germans.
9. Best place for economic participation: Bahamas
Er..?
The Bahamas holds the top spot globally for economic participation and opportunity for women.
10. Best place to be a journalist: Caribbean
No. Really? With all the sun, drink and weed? Really?!
11. Best place for the right to choose: Sweden
Sweden permits women to have abortions without restrictions for the first 18 weeks of pregnancy and there are no mandatory consent requirements. El Salvador, the Philippines and Nicaragua are among the worst because of a ban on all abortions. British women can have an abortion up to 24 weeks; two doctors have to give consent.
Catholic countries n t in favour of abortions – shocker!
12. Best place for labour force participation: Burundi
Women work in Burundi.
Human Rights Watch says:
Violence increased in Burundi in 2011 as the country’s political situation failed to stabilize. Reciprocal killings by members of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) and the former rebel group the National Liberation Forces (FNL) increased, particularly in Bujumbura, the capital, and in Bujumbura Rural Province. Impunity for these crimes remains one of the most serious obstacles to peace. The single largest incident of killings took place in September in Gatumba, near the Congolese border.
13. Best place to earn money: Luxembourg
Luxembourg shares the top spot (with Norway) for estimated earned income. When income is capped at $40,000, women and men are as likely to earn the same amount.
They need to make you stay.
14. Best place to go to university: Qatar
In Qatar six women are enrolled in tertiary education for every man.
Because in enlightened Qatar – when homosexuality is banned – sticking all the women in institutions is about enhancing their freedom.
15. Best place to live long: Japan
Women in Japan can expect to live longest (87), beating men by seven years.
16. Best place to be a lady of leisure: Denmark
Knightsbridge! Manhattan! Monaco! Denmark? Ladies who open sandwich choose Denmark?
Women in Denmark have more time for leisure, spending only 57 more minutes each day on unpaid work than men, the lowest in the OECD.
17. Best place to be an athlete: US
Five of the top 10 highest-paid female sporting athletes in 2011 were from the US.
The best place to earn money from athletics is the US.
18. Best place to leave your husband: Guam
Not at the altar, then?
The Micronesian island of Guam has the highest divorce rate in the world, and Guatemala has the lowest.
What does this say about Guam? What does it say about children growing up in Guam?
19. Best place to drive a car: India
Anyone who has ever driven in India will agree.
20. Best place for high-skilled jobs: Jamaica
Jamaica has the highest ratio of women in high-skilled jobs, such as legislators, senior officials and managers.
The BBC:
But political stability has not turned into social and economic harmony. Contrasting with the luxury tourist resorts are densely-populated and impoverished ghettos.
The government has at times deployed army units to suppress violent unrest. There were more than 1,300 reported murders in 2006 and there have been accusations of extrajudicial killings by law enforcers. The police have secured outside help to deal with what is one of the world’s highest murder rates alongside South Africa and Colombia.
Woman… What say you?
Posted: 4th, March 2012 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
