Being a woman is pretty damn awesome most of the time, but the sad reality is that we still very much live in a man’s world.
Millions of women around the globe – and here in Australia – still don’t have access to the same opportunities and quality of life that men do.
But don’t just take our word for it. The 2019 Women’s Liveability Index was released today, on International Women’s Day, and it provides a snapshot of what life is like for women around the world.
It’s a definitive ranking of 100 countries determined through four categories – infrastructure, inequality, legislation and work.
“Within these categories, we looked at basic necessities such as health, safety and education which covers domestic violence rates, female life expectancy and female literacy rate,” said Nestpick, the company behind the research.
“Inequality includes data on the gender wage gap, female sanitary product tax rates and human trafficking. Legislation looks at divorce laws, days of maternity leave and women’s suffrage. and Women in Work analyses the percentage of women in C-level, governmental and founder positions.”
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![](https://www.nowtolove.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/now/2019/03/07/1551933936783_Sign1.jpg)
Yeah they do! (Image: Getty)
Here is the full list of categories used to determine each country’s score:
Percentage of women in government
Percentage of women in C-level positions
Number of female entrepreneurs
Number of professional female athletes in Olympics
Women in STEM roles score
Safety score
Education score
Health score
Gender wage gap
Global gender gap index
Female sanitary product tax rate
Women at risk of period poverty score
Human trafficking score
Equal Pay Day – The day from which women essentially work for free until the end of the year, due to the gender wage gap.
Women’s legislation score
Abortion legality
Length of maternity leave in days
The year that women could vote
Living standard score
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![](https://www.nowtolove.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/now/2019/03/07/1551933945251_Sign3.jpg)
In many countries around the world women have to fight for basic rights. (Image: Getty)
Here is the list of the top 50 countries – Australia came in at spot 12, in front of the UK and the US.
Norway
Sweden
Canada
Finland
Iceland
Denmark
Ireland
Slovenia
Austria
Estonia
Germany
12. Australia
Singapore
Switzerland
France
Netherlands
Spain
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Belgium
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Italy
Lithuania
Portugal
Croatia
South Korea
Greece
Latvia
Hungary
Poland
United States
Japan
Malta
Bulgaria
Romania
Chile
Serbia
Uruguay
Israel
Montenegro
Argentina
Albania
Kazakhstan
Costa Rica
Ukraine
Cuba
Moldova
Macedonia, FYR
Armenia
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So, how well did Australia do?
We achieved a score of 7.940. For context, the #1 ranked country Norway achieved a score of 8.699.
Here is how we performed in every single category:
Percentage of women in government: 26.4 percent
Percentage of women in C-level positions: 36.3 percent
Number of female entrepreneurs: 5.53
Percentage of professional female athletes in Olympics: 51.04 percent
Women in STEM score: 7.85
Safety score: 8.19
Education score: 9.71
Health score: 8.84
Gender wage gap: 14.29 percent
Global gender gap index: 0.73
Female sanitary product tax rate: 0
Women at risk of period poverty score: 10/10
Human trafficking score: 10/10
Equal Pay Day: November 8
Women’s legislation Score: 7.31
Abortion legality: 4
Length of maternity leave in days: 126
The year that women could vote: 1902
Living standard score: 8.23
To find out more, nestpick.com/womens-liveability-index-2019