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The Worst
Places for a Woman
Women continue to have second-class
status in many parts of the world, with little access to healthcare, education,
or basic freedoms. In this week’s List, FP breaks down the countries where
being born female can be a cruel fate.
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HAITI
Worst in the Americas
Share of women in National
Assembly: 5 percent
Female-to-male income ratio:
52:100
Female literacy rate: 57
percent
In the slums around Port-au-Prince,
organized gang rape is a fact of life for many Haitian women. Nearly half
the young women and girls in the capital’s Cite Soleil shantytown have
been raped or sexually assaulted, according to a 2006 U.N. report. Nongovernmental
organizations say the problem isn’t taken seriously because many Haitians,
including members of the police and judicial system, consider nonconsensual
sex as rape only if the victim was a virgin. In fact, rape wasn’t even
categorized as a criminal offense until 2005. In addition, if a husband
finds his wife engaging in adultery in his home, the criminal code excuses
him if he kills her; if a wife kills her husband under the same circumstances,
she isn’t excused. |
YEMEN
Worst in the Middle East
Share of women in Assembly
of Representatives: Less than 1 percent
Female-to-male income ratio:
30:100
Female literacy rate: 35
percent
Early marriage is commonplace
in Yemen, with 48 percent of girls married by the time they are 18 and
some brides as young as 12. The result: poor health for mothers and babies.
One in 39 women die during pregnancy or childbirth, and 1 in 10 children
doesn’t make it to a fifth birthday. Yemeni women live particularly restricted
lives; for example, getting a passport and traveling abroad requires a
husband’s or father’s permission. |
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SIERRA LEONE
Worst in Africa
Share of women in Parliament:
13 percent
Female-to-male income ratio:
45:100
Female literacy rate: 24
percent
Sierra Leone has the unfortunate
distinction of having the worst gender inequality in the world, according
to the U.N. Human Development Report’s gender index, which scores countries
on health, education, and economic indicators for women. One in 8 women
dies during pregnancy or childbirth, and women have an abysmal life expectancy
of just 43 years, one of the lowest in the world. Girls can expect to receive
only six years of schooling. On top of it all, the horrors of Sierra Leone’s
decade-long civil war, in which perhaps a third of the country’s women
and girls suffered sexual violence, haunt women today. Widows struggle
to get by, survivors of wartime rape face stigma and discrimination, and
men continue to assault women with impunity. The country’s Parliament enacted
laws last June that criminalize wife-beating and allow women to inherit
property, but how well those measures will be enforced remains to be seen. |
NEPAL
Worst in South Asia
Share of women in Constituent
Assembly: About 32 percent
Female-to-male income ratio:
50:100
Female literacy rate: 35
percent
Marriage comes early in
Nepal: Women born in the late 1970s married at a median age of 16. And
motherhood is particularly dangerous. Nepal is the “deadliest place in
the world to give birth outside Afghanistan and a clutch of countries in
sub-Saharan Africa,” according to a 2006 report by the International Federation
of the Red Cross. That’s because only about 1 in 5 births is attended by
trained health personnel. But the government is taking steps to improve
women’s lives: A quota system for women and minorities resulted in a third
of the Constituent Assembly seats going to women in the April elections. |
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Worst in Asia-Pacific
Share of women in National
Parliament: Less than 1 percent
Female-to-male income ratio:
72:100
Female literacy rate: 51
percent
Girls in Papua New Guinea
can expect to receive only five years of schooling. What’s worse, accusing
women of sorcery is often used as a form of social “payback.” If someone
unexpectedly becomes ill or dies, the grievance is often taken out on an
alleged “sorcerer”—almost always a woman—who is beaten, raped, or even
killed in retaliation. Meanwhile, women have four times the risk of contracting
HIV as men “because their social standing does not allow them to negotiate
safe sex,” according to Oxfam New Zealand’s Web site. |
MOLDOVA
Worst in Europe
Share of women in Parliament:
22 percent
Female-to-male income ratio:
63:100
Female literacy rate: 99
percent
Moldova is a major source
country for women trafficked into prostitution. In a country whose per
capita income (adjusted for purchasing power) is in the same league as
India and Nicaragua, young women and girls often fall for recruiters’ promises
of well-paying jobs abroad, only to be forced to work for pimps in places
such as Russia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, the government’s
efforts to prevent trafficking and protect victims have been weak; some
government officials and police officers have even been complicit in trafficking.
But things might be looking up: The first female prime minister took office
this year. |
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