The best places to be a woman?

dennisg
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:43 pm

No, that's not a setup for a joke.

The latest Newsweek (a U.S. news magazine) features an article on the 20 countries that are most supportive of women. How did they determine these countries? Using five criteria: 1) Justice (laws protecting and equalizing women), 2) Health (rates of maternal death, access to doctors), 3) Education (education level, literacy), 4) Economics (percentage of women in labor force, gender pay gap), and 5) Politics (share of women in government).

Here's Newsweek's ranking of the best 20 countries to be a woman:

1. Iceland
2. Sweden
3. Canada
4. Denmark
5. Finland
6. Switzerland
7. Norway
8. United States
9. Australia
10. Netherlands
11. New Zealand
12. France
13. Luxembourg
14. Portugal
15. Macedonia
16. Moldova
17. Philippines
18. Belgium
19. United Kingdom
20. Romania

Sorry, Asia and South America! You've got some work to do.

What do you think? I was surprised to not see Germany on the list.


tovo
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:17 pm

In terms of egalitarianism, Iceland must be simply awesome in that regard to beat out Sweden. Having lived there for 3 years the egalitarian nature of Swedish society was what I noticed most often. The criteria listed in the Newsweek study are what I would expect, are they are certainly all indicative of attitudes to women, but I think you need to spend some time in a country and observe 1st hand how women and men interact...or more to the point how men interact with women, given that in gender terms it's women who are overwhelmingly oppressed.

Sweden can be confronting for a "traditional" man who sees his role to protect and care for his wife in particular and women in general. Women demand (and I think generally receive) absolute equality in Sweden. My Swedish male friends saw it as their absolute responsibility to care for children, cook and clean the home with the same level of commitment generally expected of the female partner. In Sweden both parents are entitled to maternity leave as a further example.

I'm a bit surprised that Australia is relatively high on the list and this is an example I think of how statistics can be misleading. Sure, we have a female Prime Minister and a relatively high number of women in Government. We have targets in terms of women on Boards of companies and we have a very high percentage of tertiary educated women. Despite all that, there is a massive amount of debate about women in senior roles including in politics. My strong opinion is that is won't be until gender is no longer a talking point that we will have any true sense of equality. We're sure not there yet. So in other words statistics such as those presented don't capture attitudes particularly well. I think there are plenty of archaic attitudes to women in my country and further, I think that is a very strong perception of Australia in Global terms. As a final observation, I would have thought that the Netherlands would leave us for dead.

Interesting topic but also one that has potential for some very fiery debate.


jimbo58
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:00 pm

I for one do not like to see any political or confrontational debate on this site, there are plenty of other sites for that sort of thing!.
for example I live in Australia but do not agree with Tony"s view, I might even find it offensive, but I repeat I do not believe this site is meant for this purpose.

Thats only my opinion, for what it's worth T may be wrong.
Lets be happy
Jim
.\


jimbo58
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:01 pm

I definitely second that...

And also indeed, an interesting topic, and an interesting list......Netherlands 10th place, hmmm.....

tovo wrote:
My strong opinion is that is won't be until gender is no longer a talking point that we will have any true sense of equality.


dennisg
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:10 pm

Yes, Jim, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, including a disagreement with Tony or anyone else. But we have an Off-Topic channel that's used expressly for the purpose of discussing things that are not guitar related. You refer to this as a confrontational debate, which I didn't think it was. So far, everything's polite, and I'm hoping it stays that way. With only a few exceptions, TGers are very capable of dealing with topics like this without self-combusting.

Peace.


suziko
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:35 pm

I am not surprised to see Scandinavia ranking at the top, but I, too, was surprised to see the US ranking ahead of The Netherlands. Not sure I buy that.

Suzi


michelew
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:36 pm

Australia, the US and Canada were all higher than I expected.

I think Australian society has improved a lot in my lifetime. But besides pay equity, as a gross generalisation, there's a ways to go when it comes to caring for kids and doing work traditionally seen as 'women's work'. But things are definitely improving. it's good to see. But, I agree with Tony.


jimbo58
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:41 pm

ok points taken
thank you
Jim


willem
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Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:39 am

Hooray for Sweden,,its not so far away from the Netherlands and when the wind is right!!!!! now i know why i have to cook everyday but its my pleaser..


tgjameela
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Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:37 am

:laugh: You're a sweetie Willem! :P

willem wrote:
Hooray for Sweden,,its not so far away from the Netherlands and when the wind is right!!!!! now i know why i have to cook everyday but its my pleaser..


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