18 Countries Are Better For Working Women Than The U.S.

Americans love to think that the United States is better than any other country in almost every category (although that is seldom true in today's world). And it certainly isn't true for working women. In fact, there are 18 countries that score better than the United States in being a good place for working women among developed nations. And the United States doesn't even score up to the OECD average of 56 points (although it's only 0.1 point below the average).

This chart shows the scores given to each country according to research done by The Economist. They graded each country on 10 criteria, and the most points any country could get would be 100. The criteria are:

Higher education gap
Labor force participation
Wage gap
Share of women senior managers
Women on company boards
Child care costs
Paid leave for mothers
Paid leave for fathers
Share of GMAT candidates
Women in parliament (congress)

You may find it odd that "paid leave for fathers" is a criteria, but The Economist has this to say about including it:

We've also included paternity rights as an additional measure this year. Studies show that where new fathers take parental leave, mothers tend to return to the labour market, female employment is higher and the earnings gap between men and women is lower.

The United States should be ashamed of its place on this list -- finishing far behind the Nordic countries. The U.S. still has a long way to go in assuring equal rights and opportunities for women.