out of curiousity is the uk

[jojojojoanne]

the most pro feminist country in the world?

[dance2trance]

I agree with other reply. The web search for anything pro fem always shows USA but Canada/Netherlands/Denmark/Sweden/Norway can not be discounted.

[rojash]

If you go by elected Heads of Government, the USA is what you might call the "Third World" when it comes to feminism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_o r_appointed_female_heads_of_government

[dr b]

rojash - true, but in the US no one with any brains or talent wants to go into politics anyway (with obvious consequences..). I found the following data on females as a percentage of all managers in businesses:

USA 45%
Canada 35
Ireland 34
Netherlands 33
Russia 32
UK 24

(other countries listed but no other country had more than 35% female managers - book was called "women in management worldwide" - searched in Google books. Data seem to be from the early 2000s).

That said the proportion of female CEOs in the US remains pretty low.

[rojash]

dr b, as you say "the proportion of female CEOs in the US remains pretty low."

According to the US Bureau of Census, the average female worker earns 70 cents for every dollar earned by a male.

That being said, it's possible that US (Male) CEOs prefer women as middle- and lower-level managers simply because they are cheaper, and, in management, it's more difficult to prove that you are doing the same job as another worker (US courts are pretty reluctant to enforce the Equal Pay Act).

[dr b]

roj - the raw census data don't control for a whole host of confounding factors, like age, experience, education, the fact that women might prefer to trade off career advancement or higher earnings for a job that offers flexibility to manage work and family responsibilities (and like it or not that tends to fall to women. Although in my family, I've chosen the flexible life while my wife has chosen the 8-5 executive life - and she outearns me. QED!).

So it's in fact wickedly difficult to determine whether the lower wages are due to discrimination or some other factor not included in the model. Still, there aren't any studies out there claiming that women earn more than men, controlling for as much as can be controlled for!

it will be interesting to have this discussion in 20 years (should we all still be here) given that US university enrollment in most well-paying professions is currently skewing at least 60/40 women to men.

[dr b]

PS if you have some time to kill this is an interesting blog post:

http://jaltcoh.blogspot.com/2009/04/do-women-e arn-less-money-than-men-for.html

[rojash]

Thanks for the link, dr b. It's fascinating stuff, and it seems that no-one can give a definitive answer. As you say (in the very unlikely event that I'm still here and compos mentis), it would be interesting to review the situation in 20 years...