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Pinoy Abroad

10 best places around the world for women


As countries celebrate "International Women's Month" this March, a tech site named the best countries for women based on an international survey conducted last year. For International Women's Day on March 8, the site SmartPlanet took a second look at the "Best and Worst Places for Women" report of the news site Newsweek and the Daily Beast.  The study, released in September last year, listed the following nations as the 10 best places for women, based on the quality of life and the rights granted to women: Country                       Rating              *No. of Filipino Residents   1. Iceland                     100%                 1,641 2. Sweden                    99.2%              13,707 3. Canada                    96.6%             667,674 4. Denmark                  95.3%                  9,401 5. Finland                     92.8%                  2,111 6. Switzerland               91.9%               19,529 7. Norway                    91.3%                21,154 8. United States            89.8%            3,166,529 9. Australia                   88.2%                345,592 10. Netherlands            87.7%                  19,658   *Information based on Commission on Filipino Overseas per Stock Estimate 2010  The countries were ranked based on justice, health, education, economics and politics provided for women. Out of 165 nations, The Daily Beast ranked Iceland as the best women-friendly nation offering the most expansive rights and best quality of life for women. The country got a 100 percent approval rating.   A blog article posted at www.npr.org noted that Sweden even offers women 480 days of paid maternity leave.   “Parents are allocated a total of 480 days per child, which they can take any time until the child is 8 years old. They can share these days, although 60 are allocated specifically to the father. And they are entitled to receive 80 percent of their wages, although this is capped at a certain level,” it said.    PHL takes 17th spot The Newsweek/Daily Beast report put the Philippines in the 17th spot with a rating of 86.3 percent. An article on the news site The Filipino Reporter noted that the Philippines was the only Asian nation in the top 20 women-friendly countries.    A separate report on ForeignPolicy.com noted that passing the Magna Carta for women provided the country a spot in the best 20 countries for women.   “A 2009 "Magna Carta of Women" promises that the state will "provide the necessary mechanisms to enforce and guarantee the realization of women's rights,” the report said.    However, the report noted that giving birth, abortion, and contraception remained  “contentious" issues among Filipinos. Pinay workers in 'worst places' for women Although the Philippines is believed to be an ideal country for women, the Filipino Reporter said thousands of overseas Filipina workers were forced to work in countries with a lower regard for women. “Out of curiosity, I’d like to cite the rankings of countries in the Middle East where many Filipina women go to work as overseas foreign workers: Qatar-91; Kuwait-101; Bahrain-102; UAE-109; and Jordan-110,” the report said. It added: “The sad fate of some Filipina overseas workers that we read in the news every now and then is explained by those ratings, which point to those countries in the Middle East as among the worst places on earth for women to be. And yet, thousands of Filipina women leave the Philippines everyday to work in those countries.” Rankings of other countries These are the rankings of some of the Philippines' neighboring countries:

  • China, 23
  • Korea, 80
  • Brunei, 82
  • Indonesia, 83
  • Cambodia, 85
  • Japan, 87
  • Myanmar, 91, and
  • India, 141.
 For a full list of the rating per country, click here. - VVP, GMA News 
Tags: women, ofws, owwa,
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