Current Events One

So I've decided I want to start paying some more attention to current events around the world.  We used to do this in  Japanese class, and it was usually a lot of fun.  So I will be reading an article, or two, or three, and posting a little summary, and maybe my opinion if I feel the article deserves it.  Some will be total fluff, and others will be informative.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/arts/18iht-women.html

This article is about sexism in Italian media.  Television and magazines portray body as the most important factor in "getting ahead",  which is not that much different than in America.  Young people are more focused on improving their looks than their knowledge or character.  “The body is the new capital for adolescents in Italy,” said Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue.  This gives people incentives to attain a certain look or body type.  They think they need it to get ahead in life.

This was also interesting..

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf

The United States comes in 31st in 2007, which isn't awful, but really not great for a country that prides itself in equality. The sad part is, we were in 23rd in 2006.

Not surprisingly, Japan comes in quite a bit lower, at 91. Italy comes in at 84. 

For economic opportunity, U.S. is 14. For education US is 76, ranking below both Japan and Italy. For health and survival, we rank 36th, though all that come before rank 1. We come in a sad 69th for political empowerment.

The U.S. certainly isn't the worst when in comes to sexism, but it is nowhere near being the best.

Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland rank first through fourth.