Yes, it is a distant dream even today. You cannot expect the government to take the charge to work for gender equality all the time. It should be the duty of men across the world to support women so that they could exercise their rights in accessing the resources available.

I agree totally.Its just what we see in urban places women being equal to men.But if we look at Rural areas the plight of the women still remains the same.And the sad part is that they accept it as how life is without questioning it.Deeply ingrained traditions and lack of education are the major cause of it happening.

Women everywhere in the world are enjoying fewer rights, lower education and less healthcare, low income, and most importantly low access to resources. They don't enjoy decision-making authority. This is fact that women play greater roles in food production, management of natural resources and take care of domestic responsibilities too.

Our consciousness toward gender disparity has somehow been stagnating. Certain roles are maintained as to what men can do over the capacity of most women.

There still exists a dominating concept of ”who should be the stronger sex” - male or female. This hampers our struggle toward equality of the sexes.

Poor nations still consider women as powerless, weak and dependent individuals. The traditional male species in a marginalized society especially in the household overpower and dominate the women. They consider themselves as ”kings” and ”masters” in their families.

Because of these, equality of the sexes in the world remains a far-fetched goal.

It doesn't happen in Canada I must say here. Canadian government has played important role in empowering women equal to men in society. The Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, is said to be the front-runner in working for gender equality.

Here the trend is changing and the government is encouraging women to join the business boards with equal status as men do. There is a quota of 40% for women in business boards. Women are joining military and police services too. Women can take maternity leave Men can't. Norway is doing enough for its women population.

Women in middle east country Iran are still facing the middle age days. The hardliners and Islamic extremists are targeting the feminist movement in Iran. they are harassing and sending supporters of women's rights to jails in the name of national security. The situation is bad indeed for women here.

you mean a level playing field for women? you mean we should be talking about this all over again for the feminists have failed to provide what women deserved...for they screwed what was coming to women naturally but they wanted it should be made legal and people should debate what women deserves.

I've heard a lot of banter over the last several years about how women want to become integrated into the workplace but all i hear and see...women are still the same>> the fairer but weaker sex.

Proclaiming that its our goal to provide women a place equal to men is not working...no laws can either...it's all up there in our filthy brains. question yourself and see the change...it's not far fetched.

The condition of women in Islamic countries are more or less same. Islam gives women equal rights for women and men but women haven't had the opportunities to show how much are they capable of till date. Harassment is a fact of life for women living in Islamic world.

Who says Indian economy is growing? It might be true but Indian society is of course not developing because women, living in thousands of villages across India, do not know the meaning of gender equality. You know what our first Prime Minister had said long back -'You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.'

India is in the club of few countries where men significantly outnumber women in numbers and the imbalance is increasing with threatening pace. India’s maternal mortality rates in rural areas are among the world’s highest MMR rates. When they face it tough to live how can we talk about equal rights?

Do you people know what Manusmriti wrote in 200 BC - 'By a young girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.' So, it is waste of time if you are talking about women's right and equality in India.

Not only India and other Islamic countries but the whole South Asian region is facing the same problem. The population of men and extremist groups are not ready to give women their rights. Women are like instruments for men in countries in South Asia, Don't take my world of tiny percentage of elite women in these countries.

It is not less than a dream for us, women living in Islamic countries, that we will be equal to men in our society. We will have every equal rights as men have now and we will be free do anything for the betterment of our lives. It is still a dream...

Agree with Martin, it is not like a far-fetched dream in Norway. It is second only to Iceland in providing economic and political equality to women. Norway has even a considerably high percentage of women representatives in the Storting Women are sitting in top-level executive positions in business houses as well but it this is not the end of road as we have to go far from here.

If we talk about the women rights and gender equality, the western countries or European countries are light years ahead of Pakistan and other Islamic countries. But all I can say here that the women in Pakistan are standing up and fighting for their rights like never before and we just hope the new government would support us too.

is there any relation why women soldiers are being raped more, than killed By enemy fire? oh for the sake of equality we would assume this as price paid for equal opportunity to get killed.

yes yes and yes again. india is a country having the same outlook while the scenario in big cities is slightly better the small towns in india still consider women only to be meant for household work and to stay at home, brutal behaviour is yet prevalent in cities all over india. dowry prevails and other social evils like polygamy and the list goes on and on

The image of the 21st century woman is confident, prosperous, glowing with health and beauty however, here are 10 of the worst countries in the world to be a woman today:
1.Afghanistan > The average Afghan girl will live to only 45
2.Democratic Republic of Congo > war with its by product rape kills women each day from HIV/AIDS and trauma.
3.Iraq > liberators from US has actually turned into terminators dispalcing millions of women and girls to neighbouring countries in search of earnings...generally leads to prostitution.
4.Nepal > Early marriage and childbirth exhaust the country's malnourished women, and one in 24 will die in pregnancy or childbirth.
5.Sudan > janjaweed militias have found the weapon more effective than bullets...systematic rape
6.Guatemala > impoverished female underclass faces domestic violence, rape and the second-highest rate of HIV/AIDS after sub-Saharan Africa
7.Mali > genital mutilation, early marriages, and one in 10 dies in pregnancy or childbirth.
8.Pakistan > in Pakistan also a close ally of US war on terror, women are gang-raped as punishment for men's crimes.
9.Saudi Arabia > women are treated as lifelong dependents, under the guardianship of a male relative, deprived of the right to drive a car or mix with men publicly.
10.Somalia > women are exposed daily to rape.

Best countries to be a woman

Measures of well-being include life expectancy, education, purchasing power and standard of living. Not surprisingly, the top 10 countries are among the world's wealthiest.

1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Sweden
7. Switzerland
8. Japan
9. Netherlands
10. France

Yeah, i agree loads of issues that trouble women abound. But, yes the scenario is chaninging, atleast in my generation of young people who don’t see to much of a difference with girls and guys gettin equal opportunities, atleast in the big cities. But. i do know that the scene is not the same in small towns and villages, especially in the subcontinent. But things will improve with more women getting education. And i think that is the only way out!!!

i don't think it's that hard to get equal rights esp. after women in Copenhagen can swim and walk around in public pools without their bikini tops..once illegal there. feminists worldwide should take a lesson from this- dare to struggle dare to win! You have nothing to lose but your clothes!

@ Jermaine

Great!! But unfortunately, not every woman is blessed with such high level of IQ(??). Those ladies from Copenhagen can rejoice over this new found equality, but the women all over the world have other ”important” issues pertaining to equality... apart from just shedding their clothes and trying to balance the scales!

It is a fundamentally flawed idea to expect women to be given equal status as men in society. Men and women are in the society for entirely different reasons. While women are naturally gifted to do certain sets of work and carry out certain responsibilities, men too are naturally gifted to do certain sets of work and carry out certain responsibilities, which are opposite to that of women.

Problem starts when females want to transgress societal norms and try to trespass into male domains. That's where clashes of interests take place. Since women are the physically weaker sex, they are naturally sympathized upon and men are looked down as someone who habitually wrongs against females.

If all women think of heading corporate bodies like Indra Nooyi, who will bear babies and hold families together? Men? No, men are the ones who defend the society just like a male lion of a pride depends it. It is the men who fight wars and not the women.

Oppression of women is undesirable, but feminism in the name of equal opportunity is unacceptable. Feminists first know what females are there in the world for - their primary job is to bear and advance the species.

# 70% of the world’s poor are women and they own just 1% of the world’s titled land.

It is not the job of women to own and defend land that has been the cause of conflicts from times immemorial. It is the man's job to mind that business. It is the men who defend and till land while females plant the seeds and reap. You can't change it the other way round.

Women and men are equal in society. They are divided along the lines of responsibilities they are supposed to carry out. That's all. The society doesn't need females getting paid pregnancy leaves for months and still be allowed to fly a fighter plane.

Unless you allow women to do whatever they want with their lives it will always remain a bone of contention between the two sexes. Let them have all the opportunities that the males get and then let them prove that they can be equally good. That will set a cat amongst the birds and they will be back doing what they do best - scrubbing floors.

How would you term equality? It is a well-known fact that women being the weaker sex have been denied many human rights. Women had been treated like commodities in societies all over the world.

There are some matriarchal societies around the world and those societies are the more advanced in education and healthcare contrary to patriarchal societies.
In countries where women are downrightly oppressed like Afghanistan, we see widespread illiteracy, poverty and diseases.

If it is not outrightly impossible, it will take many, many years to change the mindsets of societies. Till then equality of sexes will remain a far-fetched dream.

I am shocked to see some of the comments here. Some have misunderstood equality of sexes with oppression of women or crime against. The 4th point within the debate itself talks about rape. So does that mean equality in crimes against
the two sexes or equality in terms of opportunities and rights? It is so vague and confusing.

Yes, it is very much a far fetched dream and something that needs to change for this is the way people think and feel. Equality is not an external feature and while swimming without Bikini tops is nice viewing, it is not equality :)

The problem it seems is that most people generally perceive it as an external feature. But one thing that most confuse themselves with is assuming that Equal=Similar. Both the sexes are equal, but not similar. Each have things that only they can do and that is the beauty of nature. It is rubbish to say that since guys can run, jump or lift better, women should do that too to prove equality. Enjoy the difference that exists and be thankful for it. But never disrespect that as just being ’weaker’.

In some countries, yes, in some no.