Women's equality? Depends on where in the world you are

GENEVA -- Women in predominantly Muslim countries are struggling to compete for jobs, win equal pay and hold political office, falling behind the rest of the world in eliminating discrimination, a report said Thursday.

Nordic nations, by contrast, received the best overall grades for gender parity in education, employment, health and politics, according to the review of 128 countries compiled by the World Economic Forum.

The United States received mixed marks.

"The purpose of the rankings is to bring out where a country stands in terms of dividing the resources that are available between women and men," said Saadia Zahidi, one of the report's three co-authors.

Sweden, which has more women than men holding high political office, topped the list, followed by fellow Nordics Norway, Finland and Iceland. New Zealand, Philippines, Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Spain round out the top 10.

Zahidi said religious and cultural reasons are important in understanding why men have economic, political, education and health advantages over women in much of the world.

Ex-Soviet nations with a Muslim majority, such as Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, were in the middle of the field, but nearly all countries in the Middle East place in the bottom third. Pakistan, Chad and Yemen were at the bottom.

Women living on the Arabian peninsula receive nearly as much education and health benefits as men there, Zahidi said, "but they're held back on political participation and economic empowerment."

The annual study does not take into account a country's overall level of economic development: Women in Sri Lanka, South Africa, Cuba and Lesotho all fared better -- relatively speaking -- than women in industrialized nations such as Japan, Switzerland and the United States, which fell eight places from last year's study to 31st.

The U.S. scored lower because the percentage of female legislators, senior officials and managers fell in 2007, and the pay gap between women and men widened, the report said.

The world's most populous nations -- China and India -- were hurt in the study by the preference of many parents for boys, which has led to abortions and infanticide being directed primarily against girls.