08 March 2007

"Blog Against Sexism" Day

Countries that have had a female heads of state in the last century include:
  • Argentina
  • Iceland
  • Malta
  • The Philippines
  • the United Kingdom
  • Portugal
  • Haiti
  • Germany
  • Nicaragua
  • Sri Lanka
  • Liberia
  • Norway
  • Ireland
  • Yugoslavia
  • Switzerland
  • Latvia
  • Finland
  • Indonesia
  • India
  • Georgia
  • Chile
  • Israel
  • Pakistan
  • France
  • Lithuania
  • Bangladesh
  • Poland
  • Canada
  • Turkey
  • New Zealand
  • Burundi
  • Rwanda
  • Bulgaria
  • Senegal
  • Peru
  • Ukraine
  • Jamaica
  • South Korea

The United States is notably absent from this list. Four muslim countries (Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, and Bangladesh) have had female heads of state and yet we lecture muslim countries about the role of females. Perhaps it is us who need a lecture from, say, Ireland, where they've had two female rulers in succession and economically thrived under their rule.

Our political progress has been slower. We in the U.S. have not even been able to pass the delightfully succinct equal rights amendment:
  • "Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex."
The United States - we may have the coolest technology, but we still desperately cling to obsolete social views.

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousThursday, March 08, 2007 12:15:00 PM

    Thanks for this list and for pointing out how backward the U.S. is. Not that I didn't realize it before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ron DavisonThursday, March 08, 2007 6:30:00 PM

    I don't know that I'd say that we're backwards - we just seem to have trouble lecturing other countries and making progress at the same time. Backwards? Maybe. Slow? Definitely.

    ReplyDelete
  3. exskindiverMonday, March 19, 2007 5:37:00 AM

    Amen.

    ReplyDelete