United States doesn't make top ten best places to live for women

Best and Worst Places In Terms of Women's Freedom
Sun, 03/16/2008

I got this off Digg.com.

The world that humanity lives today faces critical changes in various fields, be it human rights, environment protection or information technology. For centuries people fought for their rights and during the whole history of human existence women were considered inferior to men. Today women have more freedom and are granted more power than they had in the past, but still, the image of a contemporaneous woman, who is self-confident, successful and surrounded by the glowing feminine aura, is greatly spoiled in some of the countries.

A lot of women today have to face violence, discrimination and ignorance that prevailed long time ago. According to Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of New York-based Equality Now, not one woman of the 21st century can feel fully free. Surely the world shows significant progress in terms of women's rights. There are improved laws, better education and ability for women to earn more money. These improvements, however, were not able to reach some of the globe's regions, were old problems are still on, and where women cannot feel protected.

afghanistan_womanMost of problems for women occur in poor countries. But it is worth mentioning that no matter what country a woman is in, if she is a refugee then she is very vulnerable. Women face so many issues that finding the top 10 worst places were they hardly feel like women or don't feel like that at all is quite difficult. The list shown below points out the countries with such severe violations of women's rights that even murder is considered to be something usual.

According to Cheryl Hotchkiss, who works as the campaigner for women's rights at Amnesty International Canada, there are lots and lots of obstacles that women have to face in order to receive proper education. Despite the free education some mothers refuse to give their daughters to school due to the fact that their girls can be kidnapped and raped.

Taking care of pregnant woman is a great issue as well. Very often women in poor countries are forced to marry very early. In addition from a young age they get pregnant. A very serious problem for women is linked with infections with HIV/AIDS.

Because women cannot control their own destiny, their lives may be forever affected since early childhood. The worst places for women are considered to be:

1. Afghanistan

2. Democratic Republic of Congo

3. Iraq

4. Nepal

5. Sudan

6. Guatemala

7. Mali

8. Pakistan

9. Saudi Arabia

10. Somali (especially its capital Mogadishu)

Women living in some of these countries face domestic violence, rape and in addition the upper mentioned countries register the highest rate of HIV/AIDS. Mali, for instance, is the place where most women suffer from genital mutilation and where one in ten women dies during pregnancy or childbirth. Pakistan is where men's crimes are punished through gang-rape of their women.

In terms of life expectancy, level of education and standard of living, some of the best places for women are considered to be:

1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Sweden
7. Switzerland
8. Japan
9. Netherlands
10. France

The data provided in this article is taken from the UNDP Gender-related development index. The full list is available at: http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/268.html

Iceland surpassed Norway as the most favorable place for women, and generally speaking, as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Iceland is considered to be the most desirable place to live in. Such opinion was presented in the annual U.N. table, which was published on March 11, 2008.

The United States have the 12th place. It is worth mentioning that last year the country was 8th in the U.N. Human Development Index.

Beats for Books- Success!- Thank You!!!

A Huge Thank You To everyone that donated, supported and volunteered to make this an amazing event!

We raised over $7,000, which will be directed into our scholarship programs in Liberia and Nepal as well as help to fund the start of our upcoming Pakistan project.

Kids' Show--check out Tori Allen, Scott Cory, and Hans Flourine on the Nose--presented by Lynn Hill

This is going to be a blast. The film is older (Tori might even be finished with college by now!), but I'm really looking forward to seeing it. What a hoot--put an 11-year-old and 13-year-old sport climber on El Cap with one of Yosemite's most accomplished climbers, and what happens? I'm not sure. I look forward to finding out :)

And don't forget, some folks from Girls Ed will be at Adventure Film on Saturday to answer any questions you might have!

Check out our latest KGNU radio interview with Nikki Kaiser

Here is a cool interview Lizzy Scully did with Nikki Kayser of KGNU September 21, 2009. We set the interview to photos of GEI's girls in Liberia, the girls who inspired the nonprofit from Pakistan, as well as some photos girls from other countries.

Lynn Hill's Beats for Books presentation and clinic

Lynn Hill speaking at Beats for Books and teaching climbing clinics. We want to extend a huge thanks to Lynn for supporting our girls in Liberia and Nepal! Thanks!

Beats for Books silent auction photos

Silent Auction



Justin working the silent auction booth.


Justin and Carolyn McHale working the silent auction booth, Beats for Books.

Beats for Books Live Auction Photos

Photos from Beats for Books!

Malcolm Daly and the live auction of athletes. Malcolm worked the crowd up to bidding $225 for Madaleine Sorkin.

Emily Harrington and Katie Brown brought in a nice $280, which pays for nearly three Liberian girls to go to school!

Malcolm chat with Girls Ed Co-founder Heidi Wirtz.

Malcolm got the audience to bid $225 for Kelly Cordes.

Malcolm and Lizzy thank Eric Noll and Carolyn McHale for being the "most helpful volunteers" for Girls Education International.

Girls Education International to be at Boulder Adventure Film Fest this weekend

Hey all, Heidi and I will be at Boulder Adventure Film this Saturday all day to answer any and ally questions people might have about Girls Education International. We hope to see you there! Adventure Film has been incredibly supportive of Girls Ed. They brought a variety of films to our Beats for Books events, and they've made us one of their featured nonprofits. We'd love to support them in turn! This is one of the shows that is especially appealing to me:

"FAMILY/KIDS SHOW"- fun for the whole family!
Join rock climbing Legend and mother, Lynn Hill as she introduces and presents this fantastic climbing film and shares with the audience some inspiration on climbing, life and family.

Wall Rats- 60 min
Directed by Steve Edwards

Tori Allen, 13, and Scott Cory, 11, are sport climbers who've excelled at international competitions. Speed climber Hans Florine thinks that their small stature might allow them, as a team, to make the second free ascent of the Nose, a famous route shooting straight up Yosemite Valley's El Capitan. Neither of the kids have much outdoor climbing experience or have ever been more than 100' off the ground. How they'll respond to a multi-day adventure up a 3,000 foot wall is anybody's guess, not to mention... no one that young has ever climbed El Capitan! With very little planning, they embark on a 5-day adventure into history.

See you this weekend!
-Lizzy Scully

Beats for Books photos!

Patrick Megeath, aka Dirt Monkey, played beats for Beats for Books.