Global Women's Progress
Report
NEWSWEEK's rankings reveal
where women are winning-and where the gains are slow to
come.
by Jesse Ellison |
September 18, 2011
Just over a decade into the 21st century, women's
progress can be seen-and celebrated-across a range of
fields. They hold the highest political offices from
Thailand to Brazil, Costa Rica to Australia. A woman
holds the top spot at the International Monetary Fund;
another won the Nobel Prize in economics. Self-made
billionaires in Beijing, tech innovators in Silicon
Valley, pioneering justices in Ghana-in these and
countless other areas, women are leaving their mark.
But hold the applause. In Saudi Arabia, women aren't
allowed to drive. In Pakistan, a thousand women die in
honor killings every year. And in Somalia, 95 percent of
women are subjected to genital mutilation. In the
developed world, women lag behind men in pay and
political power. The poverty rate among women in the U.S.
rose to 14.5 percent last year, the highest in 17 years.
To measure the state of women's progress, Newsweek ranked
165 countries, looking at five areas that affect women's
lives: treatment under the law, workforce participation,
political power, and access to education and health care.
Poring over data from the United Nations and the World
Economic Forum, among others, and consulting with experts
and academics, we measured 28 factors to come up with our
rankings.
Countries with the highest scores tend to be clustered in
the West, where gender discrimination is against the law,
and equal rights are constitutionally enshrined. But
there were some surprises. Some otherwise high-ranking
countries had relatively low scores for political
representation and workplace clout. Canada ranked third
overall but 26th in power, behind countries such as Cuba
and Burundi. Does this suggest that a woman in a nation's
top office translates to better lives for women in
general? Not exactly. "Trying to quantify or measure
the impact of women in politics is hard because in very
few countries have there been enough women in politics to
make a difference," says Anne-Marie Goetz, peace and
security adviser for U.N. Women.
Of course, no index can account for everything. Declaring
that one country is better than another in the way that
it treats more than half its citizens means relying on
broad strokes and generalities. (The experience of a
domestic servant can hardly be compared with that of an
executive with an M.B.A., even if their citizenship is
the same.) Some things simply can't be measured. (Is
child care better or worse when provided by grandparents,
or subsidized and mandated by government?) And
cross-cultural comparisons can't account for differences
of opinion. (Who's more oppressed: the girl in the
miniskirt or the one in the hijab?)
Certain conclusions are nonetheless clear. For one thing,
our index backs up a simple but profound statement made
by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week at the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, as she declared
a tipping point for women. "When we liberate the
economic potential of women, we elevate the economic
performance of communities, nations, and the world,"
she said. "There is a stimulative and ripple effect
that kicks in when women have greater access to jobs and
the economic lives of our countries: Greater political
stability. Fewer military conflicts. More food. More
educational opportunity for children. By harnessing the
economic potential of all women, we boost opportunity for
all people."
Indeed, the 20 countries that are best for women almost
all have democratically elected governments and GDPs
above $200 billion. Economies flourish when women are
included, in no small part because women reinvest some 90
percent of their income into communities and family,
compared with the less than 40 percent reinvested by men.
The countries that ranked last are poor, in some cases
ripped apart by war, and largely dependent on aid from
the West. Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal
mortality rates in the world. In Chad, where per capita
income is just $164 a year and women need their husband's
permission to open bank accounts, just 20 percent of
adult women can read. No wonder, then, that global
nonprofits are turning their attention to women and
girls. At this week's Clinton Global Initiative, more
than 50 new programs will be announced, including curbing
sexual violence in Haiti and efforts to end child
marriage. (To see the event live, go to
thedailybeast.com.)
In our own research, the country that holds some of the
most significant lessons doesn't rank at the top or the
bottom, although a decade ago, it almost surely would
have come close to last. In 2003, after decades of civil
war, Rwanda's transitional government passed legislation
requiring that a third of the seats in Parliament be held
by women. Today, its Parliament is more than 50 percent
women, and girls are enrolled in secondary school at the
same rate as boys. Last year the World Economic Forum
ranked Rwanda first among East African nations in
economic innovation.
There are lessons here for the Middle East as it emerges
from the Arab Spring. With some states all but starting
from scratch, tackling gender inequality may rank low on
the list of priorities. But it shouldn't. "The
vibrancy of these potential democracies will depend on
the participation of women," says Melanne Verveer,
ambassador at large for global women's issues at the U.S.
State Department. Or in Goetz's words, "Excluding
women from postconflict recovery would be like trying to
tie your shoes with one hand."
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