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Women's world is far from equal

TENILLE BONOGUORE

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 6:09 PM EDT 21/11/06

Global report card says Nordic Europe is leading the way for equality, but many women elsewhere are being left behind ...Read the full article

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  1. keith stringer from Cincinnati, United States writes: If Sweden and Norway today have some university studentships wherein 'women now outnumber men' by nearly 60 percent to 40 percent and those countries are considered the 'guiding light for gender equality in the world' and 'the world's most progressive countries', then whatever will a country be called if its policies can make it so that fully 100 percent of its university students are women and none of its students are men? Will that country be called the absolutely most progressive guiding light for gender equality ever ever ever?
  2. Alistair McLaughlin from Ottawa, Canada writes: Interstingly, the birth rates in the 'winning' countries are now so low that those societies will be in danger of extinction within the next 100 years. I believe that's called a pyrrhic victory?

    The US is the only western nation where the birth rate still equals the needed replacement rate. So they lose on the index now, but I wonder who gets the last laugh.
  3. true canuck from Canada writes: Where is the report that shows boys are being left behind by our present education system, in order to get more girls into science and math studies. I understand the need for equal rights, but not at the cost of another sex. If we keep going at this pace we are going to half to have affirmative action for boys.
  4. jiri z from Canada writes: Another authoritative piece of research that smells very much like horse manure. "The Geneva-based World Economic Forum is a not-for-profit, non-aligned group" says who? If that were correct, how do you explain that the illustrious body that produced this gem is composed of 89% of females? (not the WEF itself but its appointed committee).

    We all love you, girls - umm, sorry, ladies - but why don't you consider emigrating to Sweden?
  5. bj sutherland from Victoria, Canada writes: It's good to know some countries are achieving gender equality. Canadian women still have a ways to go. It's too bad that the Minister on the Status of Women, Bev Oda, is a handmaiden to this Conservative government in eliminating or decreasing funding to groups that have worked long and hard to redress the inequality women still experience.
  6. Matt Addley from Ottawa, Canada writes: "Nordic Europe is the guiding light for gender equality in the world, topping a global list of 115 countries and laying claim to the world's best maternity leave, the best political participation rates and an education system in which women now outnumber men." Umm.. anytime one gender outnumbers the other it is by definition not equal. They also seem to have trouble with "political empowerment". Women in Canada have all the same rights as men to run for elected office. There is absolutely nothing stopping them from doing so. The fact of the matter is that there are fewer women interested in doing so. There's nothing wrong with that. When 85% of the applicants for a job are male, it is not unreasonable to assume that 85% of the jobs will go to males. That's gender equality. The women that do choose to go into politics have as much as a fair shot as any men that choose to go into politics, just because there's more men than women that are interested in it, does not mean our system is biased towards men.
  7. Some Guy from Toronto, Canada writes: The timing of this story is ironic. This morning, The Globe featured a special section devoted to the Top 100 Women in Business. I'm all for equality, but this is going way overboard in the interest of political correctness. I would like to think women prefer to be judged on the basis of their own individual merits and as the best person rather giving them a pat on the head for being the best woman out there. Why do we need to qualify it? These are strong individuals who can stand on their own merits against other men and women. We need more emphasis on true equality in order to really move forward.
  8. Bob McDonald from Canada writes: These studies should analyze all societal aspects of both genders. They never address the lack of equality in family courts where mothers win custody suits 95 times out of 100. If we don't want Canada's birth rate to sink to the same levels as those in Sweden, then we have to talk about ALL forms of gender inequity - not just in the workplace.
  9. J.C. Davies from Canada writes: If women from the Phillipines (ranked #9) have it better than Canadian women (ranked #13), why is it that so many Fillipino wmoen emigrate to Canada and not the reverse. Does anyone really believe that women in Sri Lanka (ranked #19) have it better than wmoen in the USA (#29). What a meaningless report.
  10. Jim Cohoon from Chilliwack, Canada writes: I encourage every step forward, not just for 'gender equality', but for the political dominance of women in our current world. I frankly see no other path to survival of 'homo sapiens' (of both gender) on this planet. The testosterone-driven nature of the male psyche -- in general, but particularly in relation to political power -- seems to predispose it towards sociopathic logic and conclusions. The last decade has seen a patriarchal male 'backlash' in many parts of the world or re-emergence of ideologically-driven patriarchal male political dominance, which, if unchecked by more moral and civilized females, is a long-term recipe for MAD-ness (mutually assured destruction).
  11. Mark H from Columbus, IN, United States writes: So let me get this straight: in a study that supposes to assess "gender equality" the highest rankings go to countries where women outnumber men in many of the metrics? Huh? Shouldn't the top countries be the ones closest to 50 - 50?
  12. A. Stevens from Canada writes: That's it. I'm moving to Norway.
    Canada ranking is absolutely shameful.
    BTW, so what if the population delcines because women don't want to be baby making machines? The earth is on the brink of ecological disaster anyway. There is nothing wrong with voluntary extinction!!
  13. keith stringer from Cincinnati, United States writes: The Globe and Mail's report on this study leaves out a very interesting finding, which is that of among the G-7 members, Canada ranked in well at 14th place whereas France ranked in at an abysmal 70th place. That is quite a spread: According to this study, then, Francophone women in France and Francophone women in Canada find themselves in very different environments when it comes to opportunities for women in society, with Canada doing much better in this area.
  14. S P from Toronto, Canada writes: Of all the possible responses to this article, the choice to make the comments above betrays the authors' perhaps not-so-underlying anti-female bias, perverting the language of political correctness in order to completely miss the point. Considering the objective of the report, to take inventory of the global status of women, the statistics that we should be uncomfortable with are those that show that by far the vast majority of the world's women live in countries that are ranked abysmally low on women's health, life expectancy, education and political empowerment. Think about that before you shed a tear for the boys of wealthy western democracies.
  15. beth francis from Vancouver, Canada writes: Gotta love it; the first three comments are all from men, each of whom is worried about the dwindling size of his social and cultural privilege. #1. Yes, university enrolments are high for women, but you'll also note that women are only 33% of all powerful positions - ie legislators, senior managers; #2. The birthrate is highest of all in countries with the highest infant mortality rates. The infant mortality rate in the US is considerably higher than that in the Scandinavian countries. #3. "I understand the need for equal rights, but not at the cost of another sex." Let me clue you in on something: 'the rights of man' as espoused by Tom Paine and others during the period of the French Revolution, was exactly that, the rights of MAN.

    Men's rights are still enacted on the backs of women - as the article notes: “Taken together, women in the 115 countries covered by the index -- representing over five billion of the world's population -- have only 15 per cent of the political empowerment endowed to men.”

    Don't believe me about the power imbalance? You can also take the word of an American scientist who had a sex change and immediately noticed, upon becoming a man, how much more seriously he was taken than he had been before. I honestly don't think you need to worry about affirmative action for boys for an awfully long time.

    Grow up boys. We're here. We've been here for centuries. It's about time you not only noticed us, but took us seriously.
  16. Cory E from Calgary, Canada writes: I have some concerns with the methodology. Equaility is not necessarily the determining factor in many of the criteria, but superiority. Canada's low health rating is because the gap between men and women's life expectancy is smaller. Women still have a greater life expectancy, but unfortunately not as a great an advantage as in other parts of the world where men die off much earlier.

    Also, politically, there seems to be too much emphasis on the head of state criteria. Sri Lanka, which ranks ahead of Canada overall, has the best "political equality" rating seemingly only because they had a female head of state for 21 of the last 50 years. Meanwhile, their actual female participation rate for the legislature and ministerial positions is in the single digits.

    If the methodology was changed to 1. assume that actual equality with men in areas like economics, education and health was the goal, not superiorty and 2. focus on overall participation by women in the economy and politics, and not an individual (as head of state), I think this study would better reflect how countries are doing in terms of equality. Canada would still be positioned poorly on the political side (in part due to our first past the post system instead of a re by pop system that would allow for more appointments of women), but any report card that lists Canada behind Sri Lanka for political equality or behind Columbia for health equality doesn't pass the smell test.

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