The Ten Worst Countries on Earth to Be a Woman

[pathansen]

Recently, on March 8, International Women's Day was celebrated.
U.S. women may live relatively happy, comfortable lives but unfortunately for millions of women around the globe, there wasn't much to celebrate.

To help out, please donate to WOMEN FOR WOMEN at http://www.womenforwomen.org. Or Amnesty International at http://www.amnesty.org/ There are also several other organizations.

ACCORDING TO 3 SEPARATE REPORTS, THE WORST PLACES FOR WOMEN TO LIVE ARE THE FOLLOWING:

I. The UNDP rankings for the worst are the following 10 African countries:
168 Congo (Democratic Republic of the)
169 Ethiopia
170 Chad
171 Central African Republic
172 Mozambique
173 Mali
174 Niger
175 Guinea-Bissau
176 Burkina Faso
177 Sierra Leone

II. However, according to such sources as Amnesty International and an Australian organization, several ISLAMIC COUNTRIES appear to be the worst places on earth to be a woman.
See: http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/islamrights.htm


III. The Star World News gives a third list.

See: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/326354

• DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: In the eastern DRC, a war that claimed more than 3 million lives has ignited again, with women on the front line. Rapes are so brutal and systematic that UN investigators have called them unprecedented. Many victims die; others are infected with HIV and left to look after children alone. Foraging for food and water exposes women to yet more violence. Without money, transport or connections, they have no way of escape.

• IRAQ: The U.S.-led invasion to "liberate" Iraq from Saddam Hussein has imprisoned women in an inferno of sectarian violence that targets women and girls. The literacy rate, once the highest in the Arab world, is now among the lowest as families fear risking kidnapping and rape by sending girls to school. Women who once went out to work stay home. Meanwhile, more than 1 million women have been displaced from their homes, and millions more are unable to earn enough to eat.

• NEPAL: Early marriage and childbirth exhaust the country's malnourished women, and one in 24 will die in pregnancy or childbirth. Daughters who aren't married off may be sold to traffickers before they reach their teens. Widows face extreme abuse and discrimination if they're labelled bokshi, meaning witches. A low-level civil war between government and Maoist rebels has forced rural women into guerrilla groups.

• SUDAN: While Sudanese women have made strides under reformed laws, the plight of those in Darfur, in western Sudan, has worsened. Abduction, rape or forced displacement have destroyed more than 1 million women's lives since 2003. The janjaweed militias have used systematic rape as a demographic weapon, but access to justice is almost impossible for the female victims of violence.

• AFGHANISTAN: The average Afghan girl will live to only 45 – one year less than an Afghan male. After three decades of war and religion-based repression, an overwhelming number of women are illiterate. More than half of all brides are under 16, and one woman dies in childbirth every half hour. Domestic violence is so common that 87 per cent of women admit to experiencing it. But more than one million widows are on the streets, often forced into prostitution. Afghanistan is the only country in which the female suicide rate is higher than that of males.

• Other countries in which women's lives are significantly worse than men's include GUATEMALA, where an impoverished female underclass faces domestic violence, rape and the second-highest rate of HIV/AIDS after sub-Saharan Africa. An epidemic of gruesome unsolved murders has left hundreds of women dead, some of their bodies left with hate messages. There is also NORTH KOREA, PAKISTAN, SAUDI ARABIA, and SOMALIA.

Again, please help out by giving to Amnesty International, Women for Women or several other international charity organizations.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Thank you for this information. Too often I take for granted how safe and comfortable I am in my

own life. I weep for my sisters in these countries. :cry:

[pingzing58]

2. Vatican State (City) should rank up there. just saying

[JNelson6563]

10. Yeah? Lotta rapes goin' on in Vatican City these days?

Stupid post of the day award for you.

[tabasco]

14. You're right.

They like little Italian boys better.

[antigone382]

3. .

Proud to be the fifth to recommend.

[tachyon]

4. Somalia would be at the top of that list if they actually had any women there.

(African AND Islamic)
:eyes:

[shireen]

7. i would amend that slightly

(African AND Islamic)

Islamic should be Fanatical Islamic.
The Sunni's have Wahhabism (Saudi Arabia) and the nutcase Taliban in Afghanistan. Shiites have the extremists in Iran. But moderate Islam is an inclusive religion where women hold power.

Not all Islamic countries treat women badly. Most moderate Islamic countries have women in high political office, like Indonesia and Malaysia. (No country is perfect, they have their share of lunatics too but those idiots don't control the countries.)

The best way to stamp out religion fanaticism of any kind is to create prosperous democratic open-minded societies. Poverty and powerlessness only encourages the worst in humanity to thrive....

[tachyon]

8. I accept your correction! I hold no truck with fundamentalist fanaticism of any stripe,

and the "Christian" variety is absolutely no exception.
:-)

[pathansen]

12. I am relieved to hear that. Thanks.

[shireen]

5. #11. Saudi Arabia nt

[izzybeans]

6. Thanks for this information. K and r

[Squatch]

9. Sierra Leone is one of the candidate countries for AFRICOM

[pathansen]

15. ?? What is Africom?

[Squatch]

16. Africa Command...one of the Major US military commands

along with EUCOM (European Command), NORTHCOM (Northern Command), etc, etc

It represents a totally dedicated MACOM (Major Command) focused on Africa and our military presence there. In my opinion, AFRICOM is a great idea, but execution of that idea under this current administration could bode for a long, disastrous acceptance by African countries. South Africa, for example, has expressly decried a major and permanent US military presence in the area and our subsequent likely alignment with a country like Sierra Leone could paint our presence there as a formal association with violent oppressive regional forces.

[Posteritatis]

17. Would it be a better idea under future administrations?

I think it'd be a good idea for the US to look at Africa as Africa and not as a chunk of a larger heterogeneous region, though my knowledge of US military goings-on in the continent is really limited. I spent a lot of time earlier dealing with people who think Africa's a country or some silliness like that, mainly due to people not paying it any attention. :P

(Is your icon the GWOT expeditionary medal, BTW? I'm trying to learn to read ribbons.)

[PDJane]

11. The fastest way to wipe out poverty is still education.

However, not education of men....educate the women. This is the fastest way to lower the birth rate, increase the standard of living, and equalize the gender gap. The UN spent money, lots of it, to figure this out years and years ago; I think that study came out in 1985. It still hasn't been implemented in any meaningful way.

[pathansen]

13. Also, Heifer International is helping women become self sufficient

by starting their own businesses, growing own food, etc.
For just $30 a family would be given a bee-hive and start their own business selling honey and bee pollen.
For $20, a family would be given a flock of chickens. Sell and eat the eggs.

[Lannigan]

18. K&R

Thanks for the info. Sickening...wish there was more I could do to help!

[The Stranger]

19. No, you need to make IRAN number one! The Neocons want to invade it! Get with the program!

Remember when certain DUers posted endless stories about Iranian human rights violations?

In fact, they would attack anyone noting that their interminable posts coincided perfectly with the Neocon Media crescendo for more bloodlust and the invasion of Iran.