I Am Woman

In the United States, March has the distinction of being celebrated as Women's History Month.  It is too bad that some of our politicians, and particularly some of our most loud-mouthed media bloviators, can't seem to remember that not only do women make up at least one-half of the population, but we also vote.  The last time I checked, we can also read, write and speak articulately.  Over the past weeks, we have been treated to the spectacle of GOP political candidates running as far to the right as possible to try to establish their so-called "conservative" credentials.  Among other things, these loons have been revisiting access to contraception, trying to grant "personhood" status to zygotes at the state level and holding hearings in the U. S. House of Representatives about contraception at which women were not even allowed to speak.  These politicians have totally "jumped the shark" and are continuing a headlong downward spiral in meaningful political discourse.

Today's Independent newspaper has an article describing the "best and worst places in the world" to be a woman and it's truly a mixed bag - with some surprising results.  The article is most noteworthy for the fact that neither the UK nor the US was - thankfully - ranked among the worst places in the world for women, but also because the UK doesn't lead the world in any of the 20 "best" categories, while the US leads the world in only one: the best place in the world for a woman to be an athlete.  The mind literally boggles.

Scandinavian countries are as a group the most women-friendly in the world, with Iceland the best place for women overall, taking into account politics, education, employment and health indicators.  Norway won out as the best place to be a mother.  Sweden was first in two categories: best place for a woman in the arts and best place for a woman's right to choose.  Denmark was the best place for a woman to have more leisure time.

So, this begs the question: why can't all countries - including my own - aspire to imitate the Scandinavian countries, whose economies are also booming and whose quality of life is very high?

I, for one, have never had a satisfactory answer to that question.  But I will keep on asking it.  Perhaps, one day, I will no longer have to.