March 8th - What are we celebrating?

Tomorrow I invite you to think about the women in these countries, ranked as the?10 OF THE WORST COUNTRIES FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS?according to the?United Nations’ Gender Inequality Index

10. PAKISTAN

Just under 4 years of schooling for women; an employment rate over 21% for women; a high incidence of intimate partner violence.

9. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Around 3 years of schooling for women;?1 out of every 5 Central African women faces violence from an intimate partner; 61% of girls are forced to early marriage (before they complete 18); women are restricted in their sexual and reproductive health and rights (according to UN Women, just over 25% of CAR women had access modern family planning resources in 2019).?

8. SOMALIA

Although there are worrisome gaps in reporting about this country, indicators from the UN suggest that more than 1/3 of Somali women were married before they turned 18; only 2% were able to access safe and modern family planning and birth control resources and that has led to the highest maternal mortality rates in the world: for every 100,000 live births, 829 Somali women died.?

7. SIERRA LEONE

With a higher maternal mortality rate - 1,120 women out of every 100,000 die due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth – Sierra Leone faces another serious problem:?Female genital mutilation?(FGM) is common among 90% of women and girls ages 15-49.

6. SUDAN

The summer of 2019 brought several advances in women’s rights to?Sudan, including the criminalization of FGM?and the abolition of laws restricting women’s rights in terms of what they wore, where they could go, and what they could do for work.

5. CHAD

The median age for a first marriage is 16 for girls;?women complete less than 2 years of school; this country has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world: 1,140 deaths for every 100,000 live births.

4. DEMOCATRIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Around 51% of women in the DRC will experience violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime; 37% of women are married before their 18th birthday; for every 1,000 girls in the DRC, 124 will become mothers between ages 15 and 19; only 36,7% of women go beyond primary education.

3. SOUTH SUDAN

This is just one more country with injurious gender norms that result from a patriarchal culture that excludes women from decision-making powers within the household, such as lack of resource ownership and land rights at the heart of power imbalances between genders.?Less than 5% of women are financially included within their communities and society. This country has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. More than 1% of pregnant South Sudanese woman die from complications from pregnancy or childbirth.?

2. SYRIA

The war that broke in 2011 exacerbated many of the gender norms that existed in this patriarchal society. Statistics show that 75 out of every 100,000 Syrian women are killed in organized violence; only 16.9% of women feel safe in their own communities; nearly 25% of Syrian women experience violence from an intimate partner.These numbers are even higher for Syrian refugee women?since the conflict has prevented an entire generation of girls and boys from having a basic education.?

1.???AFGHANISTAN

More than four decades of conflict and crisis combined with regressive gender norms have left many Afghan women and girls uneducated. Afghan girls who are allowed to attend school generally don’t stay for more than 2 years. This country ranks among the highest for gender-based violence: 35 out of every 100 women are exposed to violence at the hands of an intimate partner.?

Source:?CONCERN WORLDWIDE US