Gender Equity Index
Reuters (2007) reported yesterday that Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland continue to top the World Economic Forum's ranking of countries by gender equality. The countries at the bottom of the 128-country list were Yemen, Chad, Pakistan, Nepal, and Saudi Arabia. The Global Gender Gap Report 2007 examines four areas for equality: economic, educational, political, and health. The U.S. fell from 23rd in 2006 to 31st in 2007, losing ground on all measures. The U.S.'s worst score was on the educational attainment measure, at 76th. Canada was ranked 18th in 2007, down from 14th in 2006. Canada lost ground on all measures but their worst: their health gap was 51st in both 2006 and 2007. The top five countries were all assessed to be in the "high income" group, while the bottom five were all in the low-income group, except for Saudi Arabia.
I feel like I'd prefer to live in a country that landed higher on this ranking, but that's not entirely true. Honestly, as much as I want gender equity, I wonder about overall quality of life. I feel like there's some proverb here, but I can't remember it. Isn't there one about it being better to be a servant in the emperor's palace than king of a swamp? Maybe I'm making that up. Still, even in the high-income countries, Canada and the U.S. didn't rank as high as I'd hope.
(Sort of off-topic: I just heard someone in the outer office express surprise that our receptionist could move the 5 gallon water bottles with the phrase "Not traditionally women's work." I nearly sprayed my coffee. Do people still say that?)
I feel like I'd prefer to live in a country that landed higher on this ranking, but that's not entirely true. Honestly, as much as I want gender equity, I wonder about overall quality of life. I feel like there's some proverb here, but I can't remember it. Isn't there one about it being better to be a servant in the emperor's palace than king of a swamp? Maybe I'm making that up. Still, even in the high-income countries, Canada and the U.S. didn't rank as high as I'd hope.
(Sort of off-topic: I just heard someone in the outer office express surprise that our receptionist could move the 5 gallon water bottles with the phrase "Not traditionally women's work." I nearly sprayed my coffee. Do people still say that?)