Thursday, February 5, 2009

"Top 25 Countries for Women" - doesn't include USA

I recently ran across an article and a slideshow online from Forbes about the top 25 countries in the world in terms of female empowerment and gender equality.

It listed the top 25 countries with these four attributes for women: economic opportunity, health and survival, education, and political empowerment. Not surprisingly, the Nordic countries ranked the highest (Norway was #1), along with several predictable European countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and Spain. Some of the other highest-rated countries included the Phillipines, New Zealand, Latvia, and Sri Lanka.

Moldova (shown below, in a screen cap from the slideshow) ranked as #20. Trinidad and Tobago had high ratings, as well.

The USA was ranked at #27 -- not even in the top 25 (#25 was Cuba by the way). Of course, this doesn't make the USA the worst country on the planet for women. Other countries that fared far worse included Canada, Israel, and all the countries in the Middle East.