India fourth-worst place to be a woman: survey
15 Jun 2011
If there was any doubt that women in India get a rotten deal, an authoritative new study confirms it. India is the fourth-worst place in the world to be a woman, a wide-ranging survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation has found.
India's shockingly poor ranking comes largely on the back of the still widespread practice of female foeticide and female infanticide, along with forced marriages, forced labour, and human trafficking.
Afghanistan is the most dangerous place for women followed by Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia, finds the survey conducted by Thomson Reuters' Trustlaw Women.
The poll by TrustLaw, a legal news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation, marked the launch of its new TrustLaw Women section, a global hub of news and information on women's legal rights.
The poll, released today, asked 213 experts in the field from five continents - aid professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, journalists and development specialists - to rank countries on their overall perception of danger.
Six key categories of risk were health threats, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, harmful practices rooted in culture, tradition and/or religion, lack of access to economic resources and human trafficking. The poll took into account factors like domestic abuse, economic discrimination, genital mutilation and acid attacks.
