Yahoo Lifestyle The Best And Worst Places To Be A Woman
For the fifth year in a row, Iceland has been named the best country in the world for a woman to live in.
According to the World Economic Forum, which uses a The Global Gender Gap Index to measure gender equality across four key areas, Iceland provides its female citizens with the most equal access to healthcare and education.
In addition, it’s also the country where women are most able to participate in the country’s political and economic life.
Meanwhile, Yemen ranked #136 on the list, making it the worst place in the world for a woman to live: here,the culture of child brides is rife, with girls as young as seven married off to men six times their age.
Education is also a massive problem for women in this area of the world, with most young girls given no access to schooling.
"Educating a girl is one of the highest returns on investment in the developing world," says World Vision Australia’s Program Advisor, Simone Charnley. "When you educate a girl, you instantly improve not only the social, health and economic benefits to the individual, but the community reaps benefits as well. It is the single most effective strategy for pulling people out of poverty: educated girls are a real force for change."
In contrast, Australia came in at a more reasonable #24 on the list, right behind the US and the UK. It's thought that both Australia and America’s political systems are letting women down however, with the US ranking a paltry #60 in terms of government equality.
But according to the WEF, the overall gender gap narrowed slightly across the globe in 2013, as 86 of 133 countries showed improvements.
This definitely isn’t cause for complacency though: the fact that there’s even a scale for gender equality speaks volumes.
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