The Gender Gap
To all my sisters out there, here's some travel news for you. Well, OK, it's not actually travel news, but it might just inspire you to pull up those roots and relocate to Scandinavia.
A 58-nation survey, conducted by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum, was published on Monday. The survey covered all 30 OECD countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), as well as 28 other emerging markets. The 58 countries were rated on economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, health, and well-being.
It was the first ever study undertaken in an attempt to quantify the size of the gender gap, the divide between women and men in the countries surveyed. The results show that Nordic women have come the closest to reaching socio-economic parity with their male counterparts. Swedish women, in particular, enjoy the very best situation, worldwide. Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland all follow close behind in their treatment of the sisterhood. My country, Canada, came in seventh.
Interestingly, the U.S was down in 17th position, behind the European Union newcomers Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Maternity leave was cited as one of the reasons for the States lagging behind. I just know that if you asked the person-on-the-street, U.S.A., where expectant mothers could expect better treatment - in the States, or off in Papua, New Guinea, a flash of haughty arrogance would glint from their eye as they pronounced in tones of contempt that good ol' Uncle Sam is much, much better in his treatment of the ladies. They would be wrong, wrong, wrong. Papua, New Guinea AND the States both offer 12 weeks unpaid leave. Hmm.
Back to the results, and the question I am sure you're asking by now. Who has the proud position of bringing up the rear? The honour goes to both Turkey, and Egypt. Congratulations to the two of them. They really know the meaning of equity, don't they?
A 58-nation survey, conducted by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum, was published on Monday. The survey covered all 30 OECD countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), as well as 28 other emerging markets. The 58 countries were rated on economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, health, and well-being.
It was the first ever study undertaken in an attempt to quantify the size of the gender gap, the divide between women and men in the countries surveyed. The results show that Nordic women have come the closest to reaching socio-economic parity with their male counterparts. Swedish women, in particular, enjoy the very best situation, worldwide. Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland all follow close behind in their treatment of the sisterhood. My country, Canada, came in seventh.
Interestingly, the U.S was down in 17th position, behind the European Union newcomers Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Maternity leave was cited as one of the reasons for the States lagging behind. I just know that if you asked the person-on-the-street, U.S.A., where expectant mothers could expect better treatment - in the States, or off in Papua, New Guinea, a flash of haughty arrogance would glint from their eye as they pronounced in tones of contempt that good ol' Uncle Sam is much, much better in his treatment of the ladies. They would be wrong, wrong, wrong. Papua, New Guinea AND the States both offer 12 weeks unpaid leave. Hmm.
Back to the results, and the question I am sure you're asking by now. Who has the proud position of bringing up the rear? The honour goes to both Turkey, and Egypt. Congratulations to the two of them. They really know the meaning of equity, don't they?
1 Comments:
I can't say I'm too surprised by the news. It would be interesting to see these numbers side-by-side with the numbers of the world corruption index and child poverty. I think you'd notice a trend.
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