11 Worst Countries for a Woman to Live in

It’s never been easy to be a woman, as history stands proof, and it’s not easy nowadays either, with gender inequality, religious hindrance, pay gaps and so on, especially in these 11 worst countries for a woman to live in.

While we all consider normal to see women working the same jobs as men do, leading teams, going to school, teaching others, driving their cars, owning their homes, having complete rights over their bodies, and so on, there are many, many places around the world where this doesn’t happen, where they don’t even consider this to be a possibility. The main reason these things aren’t possible is based on religion, and it happens in areas where the holy books are interpreted to the extreme, mostly to the convenience of those who lead the countries.

It’s a sad situation when women aren’t shown proper respect and when the patriarchal system tries to shut them down from speaking their minds and embracing the freedom they should have as individuals. It is sad to see any kind of injustice made towards any living being. If you want, you can also read up on another article we published regarding the 11 worst states to be an animal, regarding animal cruelty in the United States.

Information for this particular list comes from the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Global Gender Gap Report, which takes into consideration economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. Without further ado, here are the 11 worst countries for a woman to live in.

11. Oman

Ever since this Index was created Oman has been on the list, occupying one of the last spots available. While things may have gotten slightly better over the past few years, things haven’t really improved all that much. In fact, compared to last year, Oman dropped seven spots due to regression on Economic Participation and Opportunity, but it continues to rank above the regional average across other subindexes except political empowerment.

Compared to men, only 11 percent of women have a tertiary level education, although when it comes to PhDs, the numbers even out.

When it comes to health issues, only 24 percent of women that are married or in a relationship use contraceptives methods, in a country where there is no legislation to permit abortion even when it’s to preserve a woman’s physical health.

10. Egypt

Also dropping seven spots is Egypt, a country that gets a total score of 0.599 where 0 is inequality and 1.00 equality. While the country scores fairly well in some aspects, it really fails to protect women in others. For instance, Egypt’s family model advances the idea of men’s superiority over women which automatically gives the man power over his spouse. Of course, it does not help that women only make less than a third than what their husbands do and only 7 percent of the legislator, senior officials and manager jobs are occupied by women. Similarly, only 12 percent of ministerial positions are occupied by women.

The literacy rate also sits at a mere 65 percent for women, compared to 82 percent for men.

The country’s newest constitution is supposed to ensure there is equality between women and men in all aspects, but there’s a lot of work to be done.

9. Mali

Ranking 137^th, Mali climbed one spot from last year’s ranking. Among the many reasons for the drop in the chart is the fact that women only make about half as much as the men do, while the literacy rate only sits at 29 percent for ladies, while about 48 percent of men are literate.

When it comes to women in leading positions, only 16 percent of the ministerial positions are occupied by ladies, and only 9 percent of the parliament chairs are taken by women, in a country where women have had the right to vote since 1956.

There are also issues in the health department. While the country’s fertility rate is pretty high, with 6.8 children per woman and a high maternal mortality rate (550 deaths per 100,000 live births), only 57 percent of women give birth while attended by a doctor or medical staff.

8. Lebanon

Lebanon dropped three spots from last year’s position as gender equality has worsened, with a score of 0.598, where 1 represents equality.

Women in Lebanon only make about a quarter of how much men get paid, while only 8 percent of the leader jobs are occupied by women. On the other hand, Lebanon sits pretty well in the education department, with a literacy rate of 92 percent amongst women and high enrollment of women in secondary and tertiary education.

Alas, women are poorly represented in the state’s leading bodies with only 4% of ministerial seats occupied by ladies and only 3% in the parliament.

7. Morocco

Dropping six spots, Morocco now occupies the 139^th spot. With women making only about a third compared to men, it’s clear there’s a large gap between how both genders are seen and treated.

Despite being represented in the state’s leading bodies, with 17 percent of the parliament seats and 16 percent of the ministerial positions going to women, ladies aren’t represented all that well. In fact, women are not protected by law against domestic violence, with such acts being treated as misdemeanors unless the victim suffers injuries resulting in more than 2- days disability leave from work. Furthermore, while rape is indeed a criminal offense in Morocco, marital rape is not criminalized.

6. Jordan

With a 0.593 score, Jordan lands on the 140^th spot it is definitely one of the worst countries for a woman to live in. The reasons are quite easily seen just by glancing at the available data. For instance, women get paid less than a sixth of what men make at their jobs. At the same time, only 8 percent of the country’s legislators, senior officials and managers are women.

One area where the country sits pretty comfortably is education, with 93 percent of women being literate. 89 percent of women go on to secondary education and 50 percent enroll in tertiary education, compared to 43 percent of the men.

5. Iran

Ranking 141^st, Iran is getting further from obtaining gender equality within the country, dropping 4 spots from last year. While Iran has never exactly been at the top of the list when it comes to equality between genders, it was doing a bit better before dunking down again. According to the World Economic Forum’s report, women only make less than a sixth from what men make, which means financial autonomy is more or less out of the question. It also doesn’t help that only 15 percent of the legislators, senior officials, and managers are women, or that only 3 percent of the parliamentary seats are occupied by the fairer gender.

On the other hand, the literacy rate among women sits at 83 percent, compared to 91 percent in men. Luckily, however, girls stick with school with as many as 56 percent enrolling in tertiary education.

4. Chad

Down two spots from last year’s chart, Chad hasn’t managed to improve too much in order to implement gender equality. Women continue to make less than men, by about half. The literacy rate is a disaster, with only 32 percent of women getting an education. It should be mentioned, of course, that 48 percent of men are literate. 75 percent of girls get a primary education, but only 5 percent continue in secondary school and even less, namely 1 percent enrolls in tertiary education.

The country has a high fertility rate, with 6.3 children being birthed by a single woman. At the same time 980 women die in childbirth for every 100,000 live births. Contraceptive doesn’t seem to be too popular, with only 5 percent of women having access to it.

3. Syria

Taking into consideration the current situation in Syria one wouldn’t exactly expect gender equality to be found here, especially with as much territory as it has been won by ISIS. Therefore, Syria is on the 143^rd spot out of 145 countries, with a score of 0.568.

Due to the war, sexual violence and discrimination have grown common, and rape is often being used as a tool of war. The social norms regarding what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t have also changed and there’s a lot more pressure on the women nowadays.

2. Pakistan

Dropping 3 spots from last year’s ranking, Pakistan managed to score 0.559 in the Gender Gap Index. First and foremost, women only earn about a sixth from what men do, which makes it impossible to obtain any sort of independence. Furthermore, only 3 percent of the country’s legislators, senior officials and managers are women. At the same time, 21 percent of the parliament seats are occupied by women, but none can be found in the country’s ministries.

1. Yemen

The last country on our list is Yemen, with a score of 0.484, where 0 represents inequality and 1 equality. Here, the women earn about a third out of what men make and only 2 percent have senior positions within their workplace.

Women aren’t that well represented in the state’s institutions either, as no ladies are present in the parliament and only 10 percent of the ministerial positions are taken by women.

Furthermore, the country’s laws discriminate against women. To start things off, the statutory law, sharia, puts women in a difficult position. To make matters worse, there’s little access to health care, while early marriage is prevalent in Yemen’s society. With 4.1 children being born for every woman, there’s a maternal mortality rate of 270 per 100,000 live births. All in all, Yemen is at the top of the list among the 11 worst countries for a woman to live in.