The United States recently scored low on a survey conducted by campaign group's list of the best countries in the world to be a mother. Many developing countries, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, placed higher then the United States. Norway came top of the list due to access to contraception, most generous maternity leaves in the world (the U.S.'s is about 6 weeks to 3 months) and the women there are well paid. On the other hand, Afghanistan came bottom of the list because of the high levels of infant deaths, low life expectancy rates of females and worst primary education for women in the world.
Top 10: (Best to worst) Norway, Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Bottom 10: Afghanistan, followed by Niger, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea.
According to Mary Beth Powers, the bottom countries scored low because of lack of skilled birth attendants and difficult to access birth control. These women face the most pregnancies and the most dangerous birth situations which result in newborn and maternal deaths.
The United States got 28th place because of its ungenerous maternity leave policy, maternal morality rate (1/4800- highest of any developed country in the world). It also did not do well on the under-age-five mortality rate which is at 8/1000 per births.
Its funny to me how we are the most wealthy nation in the world but we are too cheap to give mothers the chance to nurture their newborn children. Even Canada has a one year maternity leave!!! I believe too many issues in this country are caused by indifference, ignorance and pure laziness and this study is a perfect example how our country can turn its back to what really matters for the sake of "getting ahead".
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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7 comments:
"Afghanistan came bottom of the list because of the high levels of infant deaths, low life expectancy rates of females and worst primary education for women in the world."
Well, in a land where the females are shunned and seen as a lesser being than the male I'll have to say I'm not surprised.
I am surprised by the fact that America scored so low on such a ranking. I know for a fact that Aragon lets teachers go on a maternity leave when they've given birth.
Wow, I cannot believe America scored THAT low! And after all that preaching to countries like Afghanistan about treating women better....hmm...
In all seriousness, I thought the US would do better. I am a little surprised that the level is so high considering how easy it is to access contraceptives here, but I suppose the mortality rates do play a large role.
You'd think that they would try to encourage people to have children, not discourage it, but that's just me ranting.
This is so sad, you would think that United States would of been a little bit higher placed than 28 really? that is so pathetic what happened to being one of the wealthiest nations and to get placed so low. You would also think that the U.S. would be placed higher since it is easy access to get contraceptives in local clinics even for those who do not have medical insurance like Planned Parenthood. so much for being a wealthy nation this is sad!
I feel like the US placed so low because Americans possibly have higher expectations? When people in the US see other people from countries that have better accommodations, they get jealous? or feel like they deserve more? i dont know..that could possibly be a reason why the united states was ranked so low..
I agree with many of you. This comes as a surprise to me too. It would seem that such a wealthy country would have enough money to make sure we have higher rates. In addition, i want to know why we have lower rates than other developed countires. The US should do something about this and change there ways.
I knew it. This shouldn't come as a surprise to any of us. To answer all your questions, less generous maternity leave is a product of government deregulation and less welfare for low-income soon-to-be-mothers. With less support for regulation, businesses can decide how long women take off for maternity leaves. And businesses are by nature not very generous about it because they want to squeeze as much productivity as they can out of the workers. Remember that article about Americans working harder and longer, but not enjoying their lives as much as Europeans? Driven by intense competition, my guess is that even pregnant women are pressured into working more and getting less time off. This extra burden only adds to the stress of pregnancy and is probably why the US places #28 on the list. The mortality rates could be attributed to a poor healthcare system. Without insurance, most low-income women are discouraged from visiting hospitals because they are unable to foot the bill. Medicaid is not nearly as adequate to cover many cases. Pregnant women who earn just enough to be above the federal poverty line are automatically disqualified from medicaid. That leaves them with very few options to care for the health of their infants. Often, over-the-counter medicine are used because of their low cost. But, obviously, the range of conditions that they can cure are rather limited. The mortality rate of the mothers could be attributed to the quality of hospitals in low-income areas. Remember that many hospitals are businesses too. It's more profitable for more expensive hospitals to open up in high-income areas than low-income areas because the local residents can afford it. Another reason that could contribute to the mortality is that hospitals are more reluctant to treat patients with medicaid than patients with private insurance. This bias can lead to poorer healthcare.
More sleep = more intellectual posts with less sardonicism.
I'm finally getting at least 5 to 6hours of sleep recently. :D
I would do sooo much better in everything if I got more sleep. Subsisting off of 1 to 2 hours of sleep constantly takes a heavy toll.
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