The Best Countries for Women to Live In

Women are the most satisfied with their lives in Switzerland.

According to the OECD’s “Better Life Index“, women in Switzerland have the highest level of life satisfaction with a 7.8 grade. Overall, it seems that everyone is happy in Switzerland where 84% of people reported having more positive experiences in an average day (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc.) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc.). This figure is higher than the OECD average of 76%.

Rwanda has the most women in public office.

Out of 190 countries, Rwanda is ranked number one for its large numbers of women in both houses of Parliament: 63.8% of Rwanda’s Lower House and 38.5% of its Upper House is female.

The US holds the seventy-second spot.

Although this ranking may come as a surprise, after the 1994 genocide, the population of Rwanda was 70% female; therefore the government took actions to involve women in politics. As reported by The Washington Post, the 2003 Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda required “that at least 30 percent of all parliamentary and cabinet seats go to women”.

Women feel the safest in Georgia.

Yes, Georgia, the former Soviet-Union republic, is, According to Gallup, the place where women feel the safest walking on their own at night. Although, it is important to note that standards of personal safety in Georgia may not be the same as the ones of women living in other parts of the world.

Rwanda and Singapore have made significant improvements regarding women’s rights, which explains their high ranking on this chart, but Gallup also explains that “many of the countries on this list — including Tajikistan and Laos — are authoritarian regimes in which security forces exercise a high degree of control over the population, suggesting that in some cases personal security may come at the expense of personal freedoms”.

New Zealand is the best country for working women (in the rich world).

The Economist compiled its own index to show where women have the best chance of equal treatment at work and New Zealand won first place (followed closely by Nordic countries, of course). Japan and South Korea are at the very bottom of the list mostly because of the small numbers of women holding senior positions.

Source: The Atlantic