Column: Why Scandinavian women make the rest of the world jealous
(yes the actual headline)
https://socialreader.com/me/content/liI0a?chid=80082&_p=trending&utm_source=wp&utm_medium=Widgets&utm_campaign=wpsrTrendingExternal-1-opt
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Icelanders are among the happiest and healthiest people on Earth. They publish more books per capita than any other country, and they have more artists. They boast the most prevalent belief in evolution — and elves, too. Iceland is the world's most peaceful nation (the cops don't even carry guns), and the best place for kids. Oh, and they've got a lesbian head of state, the world's first. Granted, the national dish is putrefied shark meat, but you can't have everything.
Iceland is also the best place to have a uterus, according to the folks at the World Economic Forum. The Global Gender Gap Report ranks countries based on where women have the most equal access to education and healthcare, and where they can participate most fully in the country's political and economic life.
According to the 2013 report, Icelandic women pretty much have it all. Their sisters in Finland, Norway, and Sweden have it pretty good, too: those countries came in second, third and fourth, respectively. Denmark is not far behind at number seven.
The U.S. comes in at a dismal 23rd, which is a notch down from last year. At least we're not Yemen, which is dead last out of 136 countries.
*rest of article is pretty interesting also*
= new reply since forum marked as read
The belief in elves struck me as sweet
"The U.S. comes in at a dismal 23rd, which is a notch down from last year." Lovely 
We have so much work to do regarding equal rights for all in this country. I know, I know ... there are cadres of posters that do not believe sexism exists in this country
Our kids never had daycare because one of us was always home. They were breastfed a long time, years actually. I'd take them to her work so she could feed them during her breaks. (If my own nipples and breasts weren't utterly useless it might have been helpful at times...)
I had the flexible schedule.
The photo is my oldest (now adult) at my work. My wife had got stuck overtime on Halloween (the madness at her work had started early, the casualties were rolling in) so I just brought with... we had an excellent adventure. My workmates, supervisor, even my boss showed our kid around. We were both dressed for the ER. (Funny to everyone, because I don't like blood or needles, and I don't even like blood when it's is in a tube or bag and collected by someone else.)
An hour or two later my wife got off work, picked kid up, and that was that. No problem. Easily accommodated.
That's how work should be for everyone who isn't doing anything dangerous. (Bringing your kid to work pouring molten metal or fighting fires is probably not a good idea.) But living in the U.S.A. my wife and I had to deliberately seek out this kind of work situation, and we got lucky. Most people are not so lucky.
What I really don't understand is the constant "crisis" atmosphere of many workplaces. I've worked in stressful jobs where there are truly stressful situations like people bleeding to death or otherwise at risk of dying. But mostly those jobs tend to be quiet, routine, pleasant, and even boring when long stretches of "nothing bad" are happening.
I've also had jobs where every fucking day was a "crisis" even though nobody was in any danger of dying or even being inconvenienced if a "deadline" was not met. Guys, I've worked with real "deadlines" the kind where I'd have to call the air ambulance and had to be 100% accurate or PEOPLE WOULD DIE! What the fuck is this??? Why are you calling at two in the morning about some trivial glitch that could easily wait until morning???
I guess this is why I have never been successful in U.S.A. business. I think my wife and I would have been smart to flee to some civilized nation when we were young footloose and free.
But maybe I can change things here.
I don't much respect "American Productivity." Most of that "productivity" makes many people miserable for no reason at all and/or destroys the natural environment.
Very few jobs are critical to human survival, in fact many jobs reduce the chances that that humans will survive and settle down into some kind of sustainable society.
Odds are very good this recent world civilization is going to end up as nothing more than a peculiar layer of trash in earth's geological record.
Sorry. I wanted to be an evolutionary biologist doing pretty stuff on computers, and took plenty of field paleontology and ecology courses too, no bathrooms just a shovel, bush, and carefully guarded toilet paper (shared with very close friends only). That's not the way to get a decently paying "job." Ask in poor soul dreaming of tenure...
So why is it so difficult to get real? in this U.S.A. society, to deal with the truly important shit?
