Best Places to be a Woman

“A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves.”

The dream that Gloria Steinem’s words above reflect ain’t a reality as yet. However, progress is certainly being made on this front. There are a few countries that have fared exceptionally well to make gender equality a reality. The country that tops the chart is the Nordic island nation of Iceland. According to the Gender Gap Index published by the World Economic Forum in December 2018, the country leads among a list of 149 countries. It’s the tenth time that this nation made it to the top.

What’s Iceland’s Recipe of Success?

The country has successfully closed 86% of its gender gap. This is due to several proactive measures taken by the Icelandic government to change the status quo:

Closing the Gap Totally!

There are “miles to go” before the country stops. Some of the areas that still remain a challenge for the country are:

Who’s Giving Iceland Company?

The other countries where women enjoy equal status include the Scandinavian nations of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Nations like Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Namibia feature in the top 10, surpassing their economically developed counterparts by a huge margin. This truly depicts that the level of economic growth doesn’t equal gender equality. The focus of the world must shift from merely churning growth numbers to ensuring overall human development.

Unfortunately, the progress to plug the gender gap is pretty sluggish. According to the World Economic Forum, it’d take 108 years to have a truly equal world in terms of gender. Hopefully, Iceland will prove to be an inspiration for other countries to take charge to accelerate the wheel of progress.

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