Hear us roar! Help me find information on women's rights around the world

November 12, 2009 11:55 AM

Where can I find detailed information on how women's rights & access to services vary from nation to nation?

I'm looking for a compendium or index of the status of women around the world, organized by nation. This database would describe women's rights, status, and access to various services in all the nations of the world. It would include information, for example, regarding whether or not women in that country have the right to vote; whether they can own property; whether they are allowed to drive; whether they can freely travel in public; whether they have access to education; what the average age of marriage is; etc. Essentially, this would be a reference for someone to use to compare women's rights & status between countries, and to research women's rights & status based on location. I'm looking for a resource that is entirely focused on researching & presenting the status of women - not various countries' Wikipedia entry or what have you.

Apologies if I haven't worded this well, but I've never seen anything quite like what I'm trying to describe. Google skills have failed me. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be immensely grateful.

posted by pecanpies to education (5 comments total)

The United Nations is a good source, here's one page that has some of the info you want.
posted by mareli at 12:01 PM on November 12, 2009

There are a lot of statistics to be found through the UN website, as well as through Gapminder, Nation Master and of course the CIA World Factbook. The newly-opened Book of Odds would probably have some obscure and useful data, too.

One thing that is probably important to remember is that facts that aren't necessarily, blatantly about women can actually reveal a lot. For example, literacy statistics and birth rate can tell a lot, as can searching for more politically-charged material, such as information on female circumcision or gender mortality statistics.
posted by metalheart at 12:05 PM on November 12, 2009

The Global Gender Gap Report sounds like what you are looking for.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 12:13 PM on November 12, 2009

I would start with the Gender Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The OECD has a web resource that might be helpful, as well. Sadly, I can't seem to find a live link to the Gender Equity Index, which is the first resource that occurred to me.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:13 PM on November 12, 2009

The penguin atlas of women inthe world is a great dead tree resource. Sorry, I haven't mastered links on this phone yet. Joni seager (sp?) is the editor and the last editon was published last year.
posted by saucysault at 8:01 PM on November 12, 2009