Nations which suppress the rights of women are more likely to be failed states overall. The latest edition of the Economist magazine is one of great significance for women. Both the editorial and the lead article explore in-depth how nations which suppress the rights of women are more likely to be failed states overall. Naturally, recent events in Afghanistan where advances made by women are suddenly and dramatically being reversed have brought this issue into stark relief.

In the lead article, the magazine quotes extensively from a study that measures countries on a scale from 0 to 16 to determine the  “patrilineal/fraternal syndrome” where a high rank indicates that laws and entrenched customs condemn women to varying degrees of servitude. Countries with high ranking are usually also economically and socially backwards.

However, as we all know, even in a country like Australia which has a zero score, all is not well. Women suffer abuse at home, harassment in the workplace, and have to contend with a host of biases, conscious and unconscious. As a start, Symmetra calls on all political and business leaders to read this issue of the Economist.