I have traveled to the future of women’s equality and it is wonderful. By future, I mean Sweden. Spending more than 20 years working with Swedish companies as a communications consultant, I had the privilege of experiencing gender equality, as good as it gets on this planet earth.
Over the years, one Swedish client led to more, and I soon found myself with multiple yearly trips to Stockholm. I made friends, and spent a great deal of time, with some of the most fantastisk Swedish people. Yes, fantastisk is spelled correctly, the Swedish way. If my feminist activity should ever render me a refugee, I will seek asylum in Sweden.
Of no surprise to me, Sweden ranked #1 in a report recently released by the United Nations titled, THE PATHS TO EQUAL, Twin indices on women’s empowerment and gender equality. Also not surprisingly, the United States’ ranking was poor. Of 114 countries ranked, the United States ranked 22nd on the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and a pathetic 33rd on the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI). In addition to Sweden, I have had the pleasure of working with clients in other countries that outrank the US including Australia, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany. Despite our self-perception of greatness, the data shows the U.S. is not such a great place for women. In comparison to more advanced countries, the U.S. culture screams misogyny and women have internalized this misogyny, leading to relational aggression between women perpetuating the problem. The UN report’s forward highlights the significance of global women’s issues as, “… the unfinished business of our time.”
The UN report ranked countries on two indices, the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI). The WEI focused on women’s empowerment, to evaluate their power and freedom to make choices and seize opportunities. The GGPI evaluated the status of women relative to men to expose the gender gap. Evaluated together, they offer a big picture view into a countries progress towards women’s empowerment and gender equality.
What does gender equality feel like? Unfortunately, nobody really knows because it does not exist. None of the 114 countries analyzed in the report has achieved full women’s empowerment or complete gender parity. We may not know what full equality feels like, yet we do know that a lack of gender equality is a mental and physical health issue.
With a long-term mindfulness and meditation practice, experience as a psychotherapist, plus a ton of experience facilitating business meetings, my level of awareness regarding the nuances of human behavior is strong. Combined with education and up-to-date expertise in psychology and women’s issues, I have a contextual awareness and a felt sense of the energetic vibration of gender equality.
In March, U.N. chief, Secretary General António Guterres, spoke on the status of gender equality and outlined global atrocities, including the rolling back of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, and warned that women’s rights are now 300 years away from gender equality.
Guterres named the silencing of women as part of the challenge and mentioned the “misogynistic disinformation and misinformation” and social media gender trolling aimed at “silencing women and forcing them out of public life.”
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023 was more optimistic naming a gap of 131 years and ranking the U.S. at 43rd, a drop from last year because of a sharp decline in the U.S. on the political empowerment index, a measure of the gap in the highest levels of political decision-making.
I am not sure how many years ahead I traveled by spending time in Sweden. Sweden Is not perfect so most likely not 300 years or even 131 years. I have heard some estimate it to be about 50 years.
How can we help the U.S. advance toward equality with a healthier culture that offers well-being and freedom to all its citizens? The issue is a psychological issue as everyone works to unpack and undo harmful patriarchal norms. This is especially an issue for women, as patriarchy, misogyny, sexism and gender-based oppression result in women’s identity-based trauma and the resulting internalized misogyny.
Travelers know that travel creates internal change for the better in fundamental ways. Mark Twain, in The Innocents Abroad (1869) famously said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
Travel creates the opportunity to build understanding out of our earned experience and wisdom. Not everyone will have the privilege of international travel or spending time in Sweden. This does not mean we cannot choose to be open-minded and humble in our worldview.
We don’t necessarily need to travel to hear the data speak on gender equality. The way that we respond to this data will determine the nature of our future.