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Top 20 least sexist countries in the world
Have you ever wondered which countries are the least sexist in the world?
The Global Gender Gap report calculates such a thing. The study chronicles gender disparities and progress for rights across the sexes in several countries. It essentially gauges the treatment of women using various data points including educational attainment, health, and political empowerment. The study encompasses life in all types of cultural environments and provides a glimpse into some of the most and least sexist countries on the planet. For 2011, 134 countries were studied.
Many of the top countries for equal rights and opportunities across the sexes are European. Also, two African countries make the top twenty, South Africa and landlocked Lethoso - a small country bordered entirely by South Africa. Aside from those two countries though, African nations dominate the bottom quarter with several entrants from the Middle East as well. Iceland takes top honors at number one and is followed by three of its Nordic brethren in the ensuing spots.
20. Canada
19. United States
18. Latvia
17. Netherlands
16. Sri Lanka
15. United Kingdom
14. Belgium
13. Germany
12. South Africa
11. Spain
10. Switzerland
9. Philippines
8. Lesotho
7. Denmark
6. Ireland
5. New Zealand
4. Sweden
3. Finland
2. Norway
1. Iceland
And the seven worst countries in the study:
7. Benin
6. Saudi Arabia
5. Côte d'Ivoire
4. Mali
3. Pakistan
2. Chad
1. Yemen
The Global Gender Gap Report 2010
Filed under: Activism, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, Iceland, United States, Middle East
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
al s Apr 24th 2011 8:30PM
Who cares if any country is "sexy"? Sex feels good and helps you go to sleep at night, but after Hollywood pounding it into us for 60 years, everyone thinks sex is a lot more important than it is.
sheila Apr 25th 2011 5:48PM
Number 1 should be Israel.Women serve in the army.Gays are accorded equal rights. Israelis are far ahead of all countries.
Rob Apr 26th 2011 12:21PM
Perhaps, but Iceland has a lesbian Prime Minister. And it had the world's first elected female President, a single mother. Icelandic women don't serve, but that's only because we don't even have a military.
Alex May 1st 2011 12:06AM
Arrogance from an Israeli? SHOCKING.
VQM Apr 24th 2011 8:39PM
This is about sexism, not being sexy. Check your dictionary to learn the difference.
lmr Apr 24th 2011 9:12PM
Sad commentary since I believe the good old US of A is still a pretty sexist country according to my standards. Find it hard to believe that Canada is one notch behind the USA. Alittle surprised though at some of the other countries that are ahead of the United States of America.
Christine Apr 26th 2011 5:37AM
How does the Philippines figure in to the top 10 in this study? They are one, of not THE, largest exporter of prostitutes in the world! These girls get either sold by their families or lied to about going over seas for work, only to find out they have to "earn" back their passports and admin. fees. The really unlucky ones end up in S.Korea near the DMZ or in the UAE.......which proves a pretty harsh situation for them. You go any where in the far east or middle east, in any bar, and there they are.
eml May 23rd 2011 1:24PM
What a useless waste of money and resources! A "sexist" country is no longer one that discriminates against women, but one that makes all genders equally miserable. It is the same mentality that claims a country has a high poverty rate if there is an income gap the "researcher" does not like, even if the "poor" person receives government-subsidized shelter, food, education, healthcare, cell phone, cable TV, computer, Internet access, etc. In certain nations (which shall remain nameless), people living in "poverty" have a far higher standard of living than the wealthy in less developed countries, yet the former is classified as a nation that discriminates against the poor. These studies are basically anti-capitalism, pro-socialism propaganda in the guise of pseudo-scientific research--in other words, 100% BS.
Larry Apr 24th 2011 11:33PM
A country that requires its men, but not its women, to register their bodies for a possible military draft, has federal government offices for women's health, but none for men's health (despite the fact that its male population suffers from a five-year shorter life expectancy), that enacts legislation for "safe streets for women" (despite the reality that its men are more likely to be victims of serious physical assault, including homicide), that has far more homeless men than homeless women, that has a Women's Bureau at its Department of Labor without any corresponding men's bureau (despite the fact that males account for more than 90% of its workplace deaths), has its males less likely to graduate from high school and less likely to be enrolled in college, medical school or law school (yet affords females special educational opportunity) and that punishes similarly situated male defendants more harshly in its criminal justice system, including reserving the death penalty virtually exclusively for men, is definitely guilty of SEXISM. That country is the United States of America.
Sandra Apr 25th 2011 12:12AM
Ya point?
Aquilus Domini Apr 25th 2011 2:38AM
"(despite the reality that its men are more likely to be victims of serious physical assault, including homicide)" larry, since when are men the majority of victims in sexual assault, serial killings, and domestic violence? maybe if men were better at socializing with each other and controlled their emotions better, violent crime amongst them wouldn't be such a problem. and women have been granted special options because for a good 4000-5000 years (right into the 1970's) they were treated as nothing more than baby makers and were considered disposable while men ruled them and everything else around them. if you want better options for men, move to Yemen, women are still considered disposable property there and men are still rewarded for barbarism. as for boys not finishing school...gee, i wonder why, could it possibly be because they lack a good male influence in their life? could it be because males have grown lazy over the past century? do not blame women or special programs for women for the problems and politics created by and continued by men.
Jenny Apr 27th 2011 2:11PM
Sounds like women are finally getting revenge!!! Besides, I'm aware of that gender inequality. My mom started 2 become the head of the household a long time ago, probably before I was born. She pushes my dad around and she makes all the decisions w/o consulting Dad!!
rae112754 Apr 25th 2011 3:11AM
Wait a minute. Please tell me Im wrong. With the way the economy is. And the deficiet our nation is in. Are you trying to tell me money was spent to do this adsurd survy ??????????????????????????????????
Malaycobra Apr 25th 2011 11:09AM
Judging by your spelling, grammar and punctuation, I agree the money could have been better spent...on education.
wthr1 Apr 25th 2011 3:51AM
whoever wrote this article is insane. One of the most blatantly sexist nations I have visited, right after Egypt, was Germany. A german pilot even once told me they had a wonderful Air Force until they allowed women in, which only started in the 80's. I remember speaking with a German who told me how the male soldiers hated working under females because they didn't want to take orders from them.
PixieSaurus Apr 25th 2011 5:16AM
I live in Norway, and given how conservative the country is by Norwegian (and even North American) standards and how if one doesn't conform to basic gender roles, I can't believe it came in at number two. If a woman expresses no desire for children, she's looked at like she sprouted 5 extra arms. It's completely acceptable for the men to say they "don't like working with women."
Like many other supposedly progressive policies in the Scandinavian countries, it looks good on paper, but how the people actually react are two totally different things.
Malaycobra Apr 25th 2011 11:10AM
I'd like to see a survey on how much better life would be if a woman did have 5 arms.
;-)
Dan Apr 25th 2011 2:44PM
"It essentially gauges the treatment of women"
Doesn't sound like a study about equality. Sounds like a study that is itself, sexist. Gauge the treatment of both sexes rather than just one, and perhaps the title would be factual. The US is one of the most sexist countries in the world today, but that is now to the detriment of men, not women.
Sean Apr 28th 2011 8:29PM
Yeah Dan, that's why there are so many Fortune 500 CEO's, Governors of states and other political leaders in the US that are female. I mean, ever since the US voted in its first female President, and the Commander of the US military forces, leaders of the CIA, NSA, FBI, and all those Senators... oh wait... that's right. The US hasn't done any of that.
So yeah... sure, men are so hard done by. So hard done by that we still make more money for the same job, get promoted faster and easier, and are dozens of times less likely to be victimized in an assault. We have it pretty rough.
You did get one thing right though - this article isn't at all about the least sexy countries in the world, its about those with the best gender equality.
Christine Apr 26th 2011 5:51AM
I have to say that I agree with your comments - and I am a woman who works in a VERY dominated male field pretty successfully. I have worked with men from virtually every country on the planet, and - I gotta say, that as a woman and an American, I'm with Oprah in that I am the luckiest girl in the world. American men treat their women better then any other nationality. We are actually legues ahead of other, what some people would say more progressive, countries in terms of attitudes (and that goes for race, as well - you should have SEEN some of the jokes coming out of Europe and Australia when Barak Obama got elected - It got pretty bad and I didn't even vote for the man and found myself defending our country's decision). Not that I want to kiss up to you awesome bunch of good ole' American boys, but I gotta say, there's none like you anywhere, for working with and in our daily, personal lives.