Are you a woman? Consider moving to Iceland... or Cuba?

The World Economic Forum released it's Global Gender Gap Index today, and if you live in the United States, the news is grim.

The US is ranked 31, just behind CUBA and Lituania. Ugh - very unimpressive. You can see the whole list of rankings here. Iceland took hom the gold with a #1 ranking.

According to the World Economic Form's website, "The report’s Index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities. " They also explain the United States 3-drop in ranking as "owing to minor drops in the participation of women in the economy and improvements in the scores of previously lower-ranking countries."

Ok - being ranked 28 wouldn't really impress me either.

They measure the gender inequality gap in the following categories:

1. Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
2. Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education
3. Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
4. Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio

What are your thoughts on this? Think anyone will care? (Side note - did it make NBC Nightly News). What can we do to decrease these gaps? In which categories do you think our scores were the worst?

The personal is political?

Do you feel like you have an issue? Like there are a lot of things you care about, but that there is just one thing, above all the other ones, that is your issue? I started to feel that way about choice issues in college.

The big thing for me when it comes to choice is that I feel like I'm necessary. While in actuality there are many young, pro-choice women, it doesn't always feel that way. I felt like I needed to become an advocate because there may not be someone else to step up in my place. Is this really the case? Maybe, maybe not. But it's enough to make me get involved in the movement.

So what happens when your issue becomes your job? I love my job, and I'm blessed to get to do work every single day that matters to me, and makes me feel like I'm making a difference. My mind is stimulated, my dedication is challenged and my soul is inspired every day.

But when I get home, I'm exhausted. I am so personally invested in the mission of the work I do that it has become more than a job. The books and blogs I want to read are about feminism and choice, the discussions I have are about this - even the blog posts I want to write, and I'm tired.

Anyone else out there in a similar situation? How do you balance when your passion becomes your work? How do you set boundaries that allow you to relax and rejuvenate? How do you avoid the burnout that seems to be inevitable in this situation?

New battles

Alright, what's the deal with the generational divide in feminism? I know I'm not the first person to wonder/write about this, but it's been on my mind lately and I want to see what others are thinking.

I went to a conference last week focused on generations, specifically in terms of the national feminist organization for which I work. We talked about a lot of the same old generational stereotypes - young women (millenials) don't want to do any of the hard work, we want things to be easy. We come in with fancy university degrees but don't have "practical experience" to back it up.

Hang on a second. The only reason we have those fancy university degrees is because the feminists before us fought HARD to achieve (some) equality in higher education. We didn't have the chance to march for civil rights - the feminists before us did that. No, we don't remember what it's like when abortion is illegal, and we have the feminists before us to thank for that.

Young women today are benfiting from the work of those who came before us. We want to take things to the next level, but not because we don't want to do the hard work. We want flexible schedules and a work/life balance - not because we don't care, but because we do care! We don't have to worry about being fired for becoming pregnant or quitting our jobs because we got married, in the same way our predecessors did. We have the luxury of worrying about things that older feminists might think are trivial.

A plea to older feminists: don't make us re-fight the battles that you already won for us. Young feminists are here, ready to step up to the plate. We want to be involved, we want to make a difference and we're ready to take over the work that you have so lovingly dedicated your life to.

Remember - you fought hard so that we wouldn't have to.