India, worst country for ‘women’ in the world

A country which has the largest constitution in the world, an economy which is believed to be the fastest growing in the world, is the worst place to be a woman among the world’s biggest economies.  India ranked last in a gender equality survey. Canada tops the list.

The Group of 20 survey by TrustLaw, a legal news service of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, found that a combination of infanticide, child marriage and slavery left India at the bottom of the ranking, lagging even Saudi Arabia, where women are still not allowed to drive and only gained the vote in 2011.

The poll of 370 gender experts also held some surprises, finding that Canada’s policy mix giving women access to health care and opportunities and protecting them against violence made it more egalitarian than some European nations and the United States.

Germany, Britain, Australia and France rounded out the top five. Among the worst countries Indonesia, South Africa and Mexico are on the list.  

“In India, women and girls continue to be sold as chattels, married off as young as 10, burned alive as a result of dowry-related disputes and young girls exploited and abused as domestic slave labour,” said Gulshun Rehman, health programme development adviser at Save the Children UK, who was one of those polled.