Egypt has been named the worst country for women in the Arab world, according to a poll conducted by the Thomas Reuters Foundation released on Tuesday.
Iraq was ranked the second worst followed by Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. The Island nation of Comoros, near Madagascar, was ranked the best country for women. Israel Hayom reports:
The poll assessed violence against women, reproductive rights, treatment of women within the family, their integration into society and attitudes towards a woman's role in politics and the economy. […]
A U.N. report on women in April said 99.3 percent of women and girls are subjected to sexual harassment in Egypt, which some analysts say reflects a general rise in violence in Egyptian society over the past five years. […]
Female genital mutilation is endemic in Egypt, where 91 percent of women and girls -- 27.2 million in all -- are subjected to it, according to UNICEF. Only Djibouti has a higher rate, with 93 percent of women and girls mutilated.
In Iraq, women's freedoms have regressed since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the poll showed.
