Where's the best place to be a woman? See our gender gap map of the world http://t.co/kX4vjoAdev #100Women pic.twitter.com/KlSD5pbfsn
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 25, 2013
The UK ranks 18th, one below South Africa, whilst Japan ranks 105 and Kazakstan 32….and France 45, Israel 53.
The BBC is quick to make sure you know that:
The G20 group of leading industrial nations has no representative in the top 10, nor do the Middle East or Africa.
That was undoubtedly just in case you were thinking that Islamic countries were oppressive regimes for women….Western Democracies are too…..what the BBC doesn’t point out is the massive gap between those G20 countries and ‘The Middle East’ as it coyly names the offending regimes.
What it could also point out is a remarkable trend…..it is Christian countries that dominate the upper ranks. Australia, geographically many miles from Europe, yet it ranks highly….what could be the common denominator? Maybe it’s all those immigrants from Europe bringing diversity and cultural and social uplift…something perhaps Saudi Arabia could do with?
Even India, which I claim for the ‘Golden Age’ of the Raj’s influence, is not in the bottom ranks….at 101 ahead of Japan.
The BBC's 2 min guide to the best & worst countries to be a woman today. VIDEO http://t.co/9Mh433Q4dI #100women @bbcworld
— Peter Horrocks (@PeterHorrocks) October 25, 2013
But why are they the best or the worst?
Just by coincidence there’s this map of the world’s religions in the Daily Mail:
‘Where’s the best place to be a woman?’ asks BBC World, with a link to a map which shows no such thing.
The map shows a ranking of the gap between men and women in the countries of the world, so a country with poor healthcare, education, income etc for both sexes ( genders in BBC speak) would rank higher than a country with a country with good healthcare, education, income etc rights for men and slightly less good ones for women.
I suspect this is why no G20 nations come in the top 10, and also why India comes higher than Japan. I don’t expect to hear of many Japanese women emigrating to India for a better life.
It reminds me of the common BBC news mistake with inflation figures – that prices are falling when the inflation rate falls and or that they have stopped rising when the rate stays the same.
Typical BBC ‘analysis’.
Yes, you’re right: Nicaragua is one (if not ‘the’) poorest country in Latin America but is in the Top 10!
Not sure if it’s relevant but all of the Top 10 are small or (if territoriality big) sparsely populated countries.
Just goes to show how shallow and agenda-driven the BBC lot really are. So it doesn’t matter if women’s and men’s lives in a particular country are equally shite, as long as women have equality that is the best place for them to be.
Yep, got that BBC.
They apply exactly the same logic to health care.
It doesn’t matter how bad NHS treatment is how poor outcomes are ,how short average survival rates are compared to the rest of the industrialised world. As long as every one gets the same crap treatment – Well except senior BBC staff of course
Looking at suicide rates in OECD countries, Iceland for instance, has 4 times as many male suicides then females. Philippines, male to female suicide ratio is 4.5.
In Kuwat the ratio is 1.2.
So what does this suggest?
Anything that lets the BBC remind us all that women are better and more capable than men, yet also constantly need protecting and given advantages, will be jumped on even when it’s not a story.
Christianity like all of the monotheisms shares the same disdain for women, and the treating of them as 2nd class citizens.
‘A nagging wife goes on and on like the drip, drip, drip of the rain’.
Relevance? I’m all for having Chris Hitchens videos on here but what’s your point? Are you trying to claim that Christianity’s somewhat outdated stance on women in the church is comparable to the ongoing practice of executing women for adultery and preventing them from going to school or driving? Because that’s a real stretch.
Asia is actually a really good continent for female Prime Ministers and Presidents, not so much for the rest of them though.
Are you trying to claim that Christianity’s somewhat outdated stance on women in the church is comparable to the ongoing practice of executing women for adultery and preventing them from going to school or driving? Because that’s a real stretch.
Christianity has become very tolerant and fair over the last few hundred years, and I’ll be the first to admit that Christianity is the lesser of all religious evils.
But sexual equality, the abolition of the slave trade, legalising homosexuality, and other morally good changes to our society, are not directives from God but decisions made by intelligent human beings in spite of religion – not because of it.
Still railing against that non-existent father figure Ed?
I thought we had cleared this up last time.
Those Victorian reformers were ,for the most part, committed Christians (Thomas Barnardo William Wilberforce,Elizabeth Fry). It was their faith that both informed and motivated them
“It was their faith that both informed and motivated them”
So the Bible forbids slavery? The Bible condones homosexuality? The Bible insists on sexual equality?
I’m off to the pub.
Clearly you don’t read any of the replies to your posts -this was dealt with the last time you were ‘bishop bashing’
But, yes ,no, yes depending on your reading of scripture.
I invited you to take our debate to another forum as this is not the place. But you did not reply. Nothing was ‘dealt with’ and you know it.
I know that you had no answer then or now
Perhaps you should take your adolescent bishop bashing to that other forum
THE BIBLE IS A CROCK OF SHIT ANYWAY
Some parts beggar belief but other parts provide the basis for our values today and even some of our laws. I suggest you elaborate a bit: which parts are you referring to?
Apart from, perhaps, Commandments 1 & 2, which refer specifically to God and the Worship of God, which you have a right to dismiss if you wish and one I would not deny you, which of the other Ten Commandments do you consider to be “A CROCK OF SHIT”? Those remaining eight Commandments have formed, in one form or another, the basis of the laws of a large, if not the majority, of the worlds peoples for many centuries, and, even those nations where the Bible does not form a part of their belief system, those commandments, in the form of their laws, have been happily adopted.
If you are speaking of the Bible as an absolutely accurate history book or as being infallible in every aspect I would agree with you but as a set of guidelines to be used to form some basis of acceptable behaviour between people then it has a great deal to offer.
Ignore the specific detail, especially in the Old Testament and in some of the New, of who did precisely what and what exact words were used and concentrate more on the idea being suggested. Does it really matter if there was ever a man called Jacob who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test and that at the last moment God stopped him? Not really, but as a way of convincing people that human sacrifice as a form of worship or as a way of obtaining something, no matter how desirable, is not acceptable behaviour.
If the Bible, or indeed most Holy Books from various Religions, is taken as a story meant to provoke thought and to assess what is acceptable behaviour in any particular society then that is their real aim. If you want to take it that they instruct you do specific acts at a particular time or date then fine, if you do not wish to look at what they say in that light then well and good, I would not deny you that choice but, none the less, they do have something to say about the ideals behind the people who use any religion as a basis for the lives and societies to follow even when there is nothing there to force them to behave in that manner.
‘which of the other Ten Commandments do you consider to be “A CROCK OF SHIT”?’
All religions are based on outdated old texts with no factual basis. There’s no point in trying to claim one is more bullshit than the other, they’re all regressive nonsense. It just so happens that in the same way as Christianity was the basis for the crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, Islam is now being used as a means of advocating mob rule and slow-motion genocide of whites and Christians.
What annoys me most, however, is that Hitchens – in the same way as Richard Dawkins – is praised for being anti-Christianity but would receive hatemail, death threats and screams of racism if he criticised Islam, from the exact same people advocating his anti-Christianity stance.
In fairness, Hitchens was clear about Islam , whether he got hate mail or not I don’t know. However his legions of bishop bashing fans Aren’t as keen on posting his musings on the ROP as they are on his edited comments
about Christianity .Nor are they keen on clips that show his position being demolished (also equally edited )
I could easily find one but thought this would be better as it illustrates the difference between reasoned atheism and secular fundamentalism -Ed.
He was even more outspoken and critical of Islam than he was of Xtianity! As you mention death threats from Muslims, its worth pointing out that he was a supporter of Salman Rushdie while he was under the fatwa.
And I’ve watched everything of his on the internet, and haven’t seen his argument demolished yet. I don’t know what point you’re making with that clip, but don’t see what shocking about it. And as the man himself might say, it’s an assertion, not a confession.
Fair point about his unequivocal support for Rushdie
My point was that Hitchens was prepared to acknowledge the problems with belief (because that’s what it is) in a reductionist universe
Unlike Dullard Dawkins, who presses on regardless
“…it is Christian countries that dominate the upper ranks.”
Hmmn. You can label them as ‘Christian countries’, but they are also the countries which are amongst the least religious. The only reason the USA is green is because, despite being as religious as Turkey (red), the US is a secular nation and the law of the land forces its people to obey sexual equality. The Christian landscape over there is quite scary!
“The Christian landscape over there is quite scary!”
Oh grow up.
Awww! Diddums.
Scary in what way? Stonings? Amputations? Beheadings? Bombings? Your casual use of moral equivalence (of the ‘all religions are evil’ kind) is just empty rhetoric.
Scary in the relentless push to get ‘Creationism’ and ‘Intelligent Design’ into the national curriculum.
Scary in the attacks on women outside abortion clinics.
Scary in the intimidation of non-Christians in Bible-bashing communities.
Yeah, scary.
Wow, really scary. Any more on these ‘attacks on women’? Funny the BBC haven’t covered it.
There’s scary and there’s scary in the religious world, and the stuff you’ve listed doesn’t even register on the Islamo-scary scale, I’m afraid. As and when Christians start persecuting, slaughtering and blowing up Muslims across the world let me know. Until then, get back into your cosy little bubble of meaningless moral equivalence.
See my next post below. Did you miss that?
This is a put on, right? Locally, sure. But nationally? Untwist your undies because it will never happen. The national education curriculum is controlled by the far Left. No chance of scary Christians getting their ideas in when the far Left is getting their own pushed through. You know, things like rewriting the Second Amendment, 70% of college and university reading recommendations push a Liberal political agenda, encouraging students to blame Republicans for the government shutdown and calling a father a Neo-Nazi for complaining about it, suspending a student for having a tiny toy gun on a keychain, or for making a Pop-Tart look sort of gun-shaped, making white students wear a white wrist band to remind them of and shame them about their white privilege, suspending a little girl for playing with a pink animal-shaped plastic bubble gun and calling her a terrorist, suspending a student for wearing an NRA t-shirt, banning children from wearing anything with an American flag on Cinco de Mayo, or getting children to sing songs in praise of the President. Perhaps you approve all of that.
From a national perspective, perhaps worst of all was back in 2009 when the Department of Education itself sent a directive to teachers to instruct their students to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.. The new Common Core agenda might be worse still, but the jury’s still out on that one.
Hey, maybe you should move to Nova Scotia where they ban students for wearing a t-shirt supporting Jesus.
Instead, you’re whining about a few local Christians, presumably in Texas and a couple other places. I’m very glad you’re not in a position of authority in the US.
And juxtaposing murderers against bullies does not make a bully a saint.
Thousands maybe more dead Africans, told by the Catholic church that Aids is bad, but not as bad as condoms.
Thousands of mothers tormented by the thought of their dead children in pergatory.
The systematic rape of young boys and the conspiracy to cover it up.
Anti-semitism, the Lord’s Resistance Army, I’m sure there’s more.
“Thousands maybe more dead Africans, told by the Catholic church that Aids is bad, but not as bad as condoms.”
I note you bishop bashers love to trot this one out
Perhaps you can help me out with a question I have over this claim, You being a theologian and all
I’m not a catholic or any sort of Christian but my understanding is that the church forbids sex out side of marriage , defines marriage as a life long union between one man and one woman and generaly disapproves of promiscuity. Yes?
So why if people ignore ,why would they give two hoots what the church says about contraception?
Might not the reluctance to use condoms have more to do with traditional superstition than any teachings of the pope .
A bit like the LRA (from Wiki) “. Ideologically, LRA believe in African mysticism and Christian fundamentalism.”
“The systematic rape of young boys and the conspiracy to cover it up.
Anti-Semitism,”
That could apply to any number of large institutions, difference is the catholic church has has apologised
for its transgressions, we have yet to hear from the BBC on either count
Have Christians done bad things as Christians? they sure have
But on balance have they done more good than bad? As a reasoned atheist I have to say absolutely ( certainly compared to organised atheism)
Only a zealot of the new faith ,moral relativism, could think otherwise
Meanwhile in a northern town near you.
An example of two of Stockholm syndrome here.
Let`s be clear-you dare to tell us about what Christians say and do?…best make sure its what Jesus Himself-the Christ-says.
In other words-get an old Gospel and read the red words of His.
Until you do-don`t call it Christian(1 Pet 4.17)…it`ll be Churchian or Paulinism.
And-once you have a reason approach-apply to Muhammad and his take on women…THEN dare to compare and contrast will you?
There`s only one sin that Jesus says won`t be forgiven…and the muppets that dare compare Christ and His words with the bleached out, counterfeits like “liberalism” and Islam” are guilty of it.
Stockholm Syndrome?…Meccan or Medina Mock ups? Brussels Baal?…WGAF?…it`s a well deserved hell for those who confuse Christs words and life with the Church, the BBC or whoever…
Jesus Himself-the Christ-said the world was coming to an end in the lifetime of the people at the time, a broken promise, but a pretty good motivation to leave everything and come follow him.
Jesus Himself-the Christ-said that the only way to God was through him, and everyone else could go to hell…literally. And that that would be the vast majority. Nice idea that for one so meek & mild, eternal punishment and torture of the dead. Lovely.
Jesus Himself-the Christ-said he came to bring the sword, not peace.
He apparently had the ability to cure lepers, lepers who suffered agony, and were ostracised. He only cured them though when they were brought to him, or sought him out. And only then if they accepted him as the Messiah ie. put away their critical faculties. That doesnt seem a very fair position to put a leper in is it? Its not like they can really say ‘Look Jeeze, I heard you can cure my leprosy, stop my fingers dropping of and all, and I could go back to my family….but the Son of God? Come on, you’re havin’ a laugh.’ What would the Hippy Rabbi’s answer have been. Wave his hand and cure him anyway, or say tough, you’re stuck with your agonising, debilitating disease. Nice guy.
The there was the whole, martyrdom through a human sacrafice.
An if you don’t call this Christian but Churchian or Paulinism, don’t you extend the same to his successor Mo, and call it Khaliph Abu Bakerism?
Oh-and was the BBCs Womans Hour Office voted Number 1 then?
Where else would Garvey, Boycott, Brand, Montague, Murray, Toynbee and LBP(Libby Bloody Purvis) get away with such salaries for being so cliche ridden stirred puddings?
Seem pretty suffed and stuck on those lofty perches, as we carry them around on sedan chairs at £145,50 a pop?
Worst place to be a white middle-aged bloke?…
Got to Waitrose too late to get my Mail/Telegraph.
But you`ll not be surprised to know there were shedloads of Guardians. so took one once I`d spent my £5.
Worth nothing-but did note the obit of Doris Lessing as mewled by Maggie Drabble…married to that cop who chased Top Cat wasn`t she?
Maggies piece informed both its readers that they both employed the same cleaning lady…a refugee from South Africa, coloured and worked oh-so hard for these two ladies.
Thank God they were able to document patronising racism and exploitation of women and immigrants…as opposed to climbing on their backs and using them until they dropped dead of consumption eh?
Oh to share a cleaning lady from the Cape…Viva Revolutione!
RIP Doris…the Lessing of Two evils!
(For Dame Tessa Jowell…RIP)
Compare that map Alan has posted with the Births & Deaths version of this one, and discuss: