Canada best G20 country to be a woman, India worst

Policies that promote gender equality, safeguards against violence and exploitation and access to healthcare make Canada the best place to be a woman among the world's biggest economies, a global poll of experts showed on Wednesday. Germany, Britain, Australia and France rounded out the top five countries out of the Group of 20 in a perceptions poll of 370 gender specialists conducted by TrustLaw, a legal news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The United States came in sixth but polarized opinion due to concerns about reproductive rights and affordable healthcare. Experts were divided on the situation in the United States.

Civil rights and domestic violence laws, access to education, workplace opportunities and freedom of movement and speech were positive. But access to contraception and abortion were being curtailed and women suffered disproportionately from a lack of access to affordable healthcare, some experts said.

"Many of the gains of the last 100 years are under attack and the most overt and vicious attack is on reproductive rights," said Marsha Freeman, director of International Women's Rights Action Watch.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/13/us-g20-women-idUSBRE85C00420120613

Another category in which the US is slipping in world rankings.