mother's day report

from the "time to appreciate what we have" files, the herald informs us that nz is the 6th best place to be a mother:

Save the Children's annual Mother's Day report says the average Kiwi woman will have 20 years of formal education and live to age 82, with almost all having health professionals present when they give birth.

By contrast in the worst place in the world for mothers, Afghanistan, a typical woman will have only four years of formal schooling and die by age 44, and only one in seven has a health professional present in childbirth....

The rankings are based on a weighted average of children's wellbeing and women's status in health, education, income and politics.

which, of course, means that we are doing well compared to others. but should we comparing our status in comparison to other countries, where women have fewer opportunities and lower healthcare? or with our male counterpart in this country, with whom we have something more in common ie theoretically at least, the same opportunities and the same access to health and education?

sometimes these articles seem to have a tone of "you're doing well here, so stop complaining". however, it is interesting to see who we're doing better than. the united states doesn't feature in the top 9, surprisingly. on the other hand, australia rates at number 2. also interesting is that the countries with higher taxes seem to do a lot better than countries with lower taxes. norway, sitting at the top, would be the country our minister of women's affairs quoted in a press release as the one which "requires companies to have a 40 percent quota of women directors".