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Nordic nations good for women
The gender gap is less for women in that region. U.S. results are mixed.
Associated Press
Published November 9, 2007
GENEVA - Women in predominantly Muslim countries are struggling to compete for jobs, win equal pay and hold political office, falling behind the rest of the world in eliminating discrimination, a report said Thursday. Nordic nations, by contrast, received the best overall grades for gender parity in education, employment, health and politics, according to the review of 128 countries compiled by the World Economic Forum. Sweden, for example, has more women than men holding high political office. The United States received mixed marks. "The purpose of the rankings is to bring out where a country stands in terms of dividing the resources that are available between women and men," said Saadia Zahidi, one of the report's three co-authors. Zahidi said religious and cultural reasons are important in understanding why men have economic, political, education and health advantages over women in much of the world. Ex-Soviet nations with a Muslim majority, such as Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, were in the middle of the field, but nearly all countries in the Middle East place in the bottom third. Women living on the Arabian peninsula receive nearly as much education and health benefits as men there, Zahidi said, "but they're held back on political participation and economic empowerment." The annual study does not take into account a country's overall level of economic development: women in Sri Lanka, South Africa, Cuba and Lesotho all fared better - relatively speaking - than women in industrialized nations such as Japan, Switzerland and the United States, which fell eight places from last year's study. The United States scored lower because the percentage of female legislators, senior officials and managers fell in 2007, and the pay gap between women and men widened, the report said. FAST FACTS The top 10 These countries got high marks for gender parity in education, employment, health and politics: 1.Sweden 2.Norway 3.Finland 4.Iceland 5.New Zealand 6.Philippines 7.Germany 8.Denmark 9.Ireland 10.Spain ... 31.United States ... 126.Pakistan 127.Chad 128.Yemen Read the full report at www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf
[Last modified November 9, 2007, 02:02:42]
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