Women have it worst in Afghanistan

The top 5 worst countries to be a woman  in descending order are: Afghanistan, Congo, Pakistan, Indian & Somalia.

Most were shocked to find out there are worst places to be then Somalia.  I've just spent the past hour lost on Wikipedia looking up such things as FGC and other problems facing women of most of those countries.  Apparently 87% of women in Afghanistan have never been to school and are illiterate. Most women of the countries listed have little or no access to medical care. In Congo, there is so much rape, it's why it's up there on the list.

We need less straight white men who blog as lesbians and more people who help the condition of women in these countries, so that they can learn how to read and write, have access to a minimum of health care, be allowed to chose who they marry and who they have sex with,  and so they no longer get treated as chattel and get sold to the highest bidder.  One of the only ways to do it is via education.  Children in these countries, both boys and girls have to be taught human rights, and gender equality.

Of course not only in these countries. These are currently the worst in the world for woman's rights but not the only countries where women have few rights.  Saudi Arabia comes to mind as the only country where women aren't allowed to drive. I also hope that societies where men and women are constantly segregated eventually come to see that segregation is worse for people then mixing both genders together.

I know it takes time. I mean I remember when I was a little girl, there was a certain amount of gender segregation too. In large gatherings all the women would end up in the kitchen and all the men in the living room. Certain jobs women didn't do when I was little, but I was raised by women who believed women could do anything men could do. In fact I think my family was very disappointed when my dream of being a medical doctor didn't materialize.

My family can be proud to know that I've worked in a non-traditional job all my adult life. Including my boss  we are 22 under his supervision. Only 4 of us are women. 2 out of 13 in Software and Hardware Quality Assurance, and 2 out of 8 in scripting for SQA.  There are currently no women in the Software development team - they are probably around 50, and there are a few in ASIC and hardware, but we're talking 2 out of 40 or 50 men in each case. 

Some of the guys in software have been saying for year that their job environment is unnatural. That in real life there are much more women.  It's not the company who discriminates against women. Very few ever apply. When I get stacks of resumes from universities sometimes I get 2 out of 40 resumes from women. I do try to interview all the women who apply for my jobs, but it doesn't mean I'm going to hire them if they aren't the best candidate.  Like this summer, we have 3 male stagieres. I know we interviewed several women, but they didn't' impress me as much as these guys did. I have no regrets, these students are working out perfectly.

I'm always happy when I can not only hire a female, but when she comes from a country where women don't have much rights. Earlier this year I had a female student who was from Senegal. I hear the human rights there are better then in the countries I've listed above, but they still have a lot of work to do . I was glad to show her a work environment from Canada. I know that she gave me 100% of what she could do. She overcame language barriers and societal barriers in her stage. She was the first female student I had working for me who was also a mother of a small child. 

I admired her courage and determination. I found it sad, that she was so isolated being a full time student and married and mother of a 3 year old, that she is considering going back home after her studies are over. I hope for her sake she changes her mind by the time she is finished her education. I hope she runs into another engineering student with a small child that has similar responsibilities with who she can bond and feel part of Canadian society. No matter how hard a time she is having here, I know she would face discrimination in her country and may never be able to work as a engineer where as here in Canada she would be able to.