'Women-friendly' countries.If biology has dictated that you are the proud possessor of two X-chromosomes, you might want to factor this into choosing your country of residence. In a study by the World Economic Forum (WEF WEF World Economic Forum WEF Water Environment Federation WEF Winter Equestrian Festival (Wellington, FL) WEF With Effect From (aviation) WEF World Environment Fund WEF Weight Enumerating Function ), examining for the first time inequality between the sexes across 58 countries, the Nordic lands--Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland--make up the top five countries offering women a decent deal across a range of critical categories. They are particularly strong in health care, education and political empowerment for women. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Interestingly, these same countries also rank highly in the WEF's global competitiveness rankings. "It seems these societies are conscious of the economic incentive that the advancement of women represents," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the and director of WEF's global competitiveness program. The top 10 is rounded out by New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , Canada, Britain, Germany and Australia. EU countries fill 10 of the top 15 places, while the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. took 17th place and Mexico scraped in at 52, the lowest-ranked Latin American country in the survey. The five factors taken into account in trying to gauge gender differences were: economic participation--equal pay for equal work; economic opportunity--unrestricted access to the labor market labor market A place where labor is exchanged for wages; an LM is defined by geography, education and technical expertise, occupation, licensure or certification requirements, and job experience ; political empowerment--female representation in decision-making structures; educational achievements--access to education; and health and wellbeing--access to reproductive healthcare. These categories were based on recommendations from the United Nations Development Fund for Women The United Nations Development Fund for Women, commonly known as UNIFEM, provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promote women’s human rights, political participation and economic security. (UNIFEM UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women ). Ex-Soviet Baltic states Latvia (11), Lithuania (12) and Estonia (15) ranked surprisingly high, while former Communist master Russia came in at 31. Costa Rica (18) is the highest-ranking Latin American country, followed at quite some distance by Colombia at No. 30. China (33) scores highest among Asian nations, with Japan coming in next at 38. Egypt was last out of all 58 countries analyzed. Perhaps Mexico will be able to improve the lot of women here in time for the next study. This year Mexico City is due to host the 15th Global Summit of Women from June 23-25. |
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