Women in Saudi Arabia are treated as lifelong dependents,
under the guardianship of a male relative. Deprived of the right to drive a car
or mix with men publicly, they are confined to strictly segregated lives on
pain of severe punishment.
2. Jordan
Just 16% of women participate in the labor force, and women
earn on average only 18% of what men do. Additionally, Just 12% of parliament
seats and 11% of ministerial positions were held by women, both among the lower
rates in the world.
3. Lebanon
With just 3% of seats in Lebanon’s parliament were held by
women and 0 ministerial positions occupied by women, Lebanon is rated among the
worst for women’s political empowerment. Also, religious laws cover issues of
personal status, such as marriage and divorce.
4. Iran
Iran has some of the world’s greatest disparities in labor
force participation and incomes. Just 17% of women, versus 76% of men, were in
the labor force and women earned an average of just $4,656 annually, versus
$26,644 for men. Iran is also among the worst in terms of women's participation
in politics. All female candidates we're disqualified in the last presidential
election. Also shocking, women in Iran need a male guardian’s approval to
marry, and travel internationally.
5. Chad
Unlike most other countries on this list, Chad does not rate
low in work opportunities and incomes surrounding women. That being said, just
28% of women in the country could read and only 55% of school-age girls were
enrolled in primary school, both among the worst rates in the world. Women in
Chad have very few rights. Ritualistic scarification and arranged marriages are still common, often with
girls as young as 11.
6. Pakistan
90 percent of women experience domestic violence in their
lifetimes; women earn 82 percent less than men. Also, In some areas, women are
gang raped as punishment for men's crimes. But honor killings are more of a
problem, with over 1000 honor killings committed last year. A new wave of
religious extremists are targeting
female politicians, human rights workers and lawyers.
7. India
National Crime Records Bureau reveal that a crime against a
women is committed every 3 minutes, a women is raped every 29 minutes, a dowry
death occurs every 77 minutes and 1 case of cruelty committed by either the
husband or relative of the victim occurs every 9 minutes. Additionally, 50
million girls were killed in the past century in the practice of female
infanticide or foeticide; around 100 million women and girls are estimated to
be victim of human trafficking; 44.5 percent of girls are married before the
age of 18.
8. Somalia
95 percent of girls face genital mutilation mostly between
the ages of 4 and 11; only 7.5 percent of parliament seats are held by women;
only 9 percent of women give birth in a health facility.
9. Afganistan
Among one of Afghanistan’s greatest struggles is in dealing with rape victims. After a long history of male-dominate cultural practices that have often leaked their way into legal practices, rape and sexual violence is considered common though nearly impossible to report. An overwhelming number of women remain illiterate in
Afghanistan. Rape victims can be forced, by law, to marry their attacker and
women are discouraged fatally from pursuing an education, more than half of all
brides are under 16, and one women dies in childbirth every half an hour.
Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
10. Mali
Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. Many
women are victims of female genital mutilation, many of them are forced into
early marriages, and one in ten dies in pregnancy or childbirth. When it comes
to education and health, Mali has some of the world's worst disparities between
men and women. Mali has a very low literacy rate for women of just 25% and the
low primary school enrollment rate of 64%, both among the worst worldwide. A
healthy woman's life expectancy is just 48 years old, also one of the lowest in
the world
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Women
