I just heard about the new study out today - The Global Gender Gap Report, which indicates the U.S. ranks 65th among 142 countries studied when it comes to inequality of earnings between men and women. Women in the U.S. still earn about 2/3 what men earn (66 cents on the dollar). This is not specifically for the same job, so its not the same argument about equal pay for equal work. Some of the reasons found for why women earn less include the fact that women are the ones who generally take time off from work or career-building to care for aging parents and/or sick children. Heres where it gets interesting... Among the top ten countries - those where the pay gap is smallest - are Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway. There are a few reasons why women fare better in these countries, and they are the same reasons why children fare better. One factor is that the Scandinavian Countries have generous maternity and paternity policies. When a family has a baby, the parents can take time off to care for the new child without fear of losing their position or standing at work. When they go back, they pick up where they left off. The other thing I find very interesting is that these five Scandinavian countries rank among the safest places in the world for babies, as evidenced by their Infant Mortality Rates (IMR). This is especially true when considering the Infant Mortality Rate for babies born at or near full-term, with high birth-weight and high APGAR scores. According to a study published September 24, 2014 in National Vital Statistics Reports (Volume 63, Number 5) from the CDC, The United States ranks last when it comes to Infant Mortality, when compared with 25 other nations. When very early premature infants (born at less than 24 weeks gestational age) are factored out of the equation, infants born in the United States are still dying at a rate that is double that of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland. Comparing the U.S. to Sweden, researchers found that 39% of the difference in IMR was due to premature births (24-36 weeks gestation) and 47% was due to deaths of infants born at 37 weeks gestation or more. The report reads, If the United States could reduce these two factors to Swedens levels, the U.S. infant mortality rate would fall by 43%, with nearly 7,300 infant deaths averted annually. Now, even though Scandinavian parents are given generous time off to care for their infants, and they get to go back to work without worrying about losing their jobs or being demoted, there must be something else that contributes to the difference. Can you guess what that difference might be? When comparing the childhood vaccination schedules between Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland with the CDCs Childhood Vaccination schedule in the United States, there is a glaring difference. Children born in the United States received approximately double the number of vaccinations in their first year of life as do children born in those five Scandinavian countries. None of those countries vaccinates against Hepatitis B, unless the infant is at increased risk due to positive parental sero-status. Remember, one of the factors affecting the gender pay gap is the fact that women are generally the ones caring for sick children. More vaccines = more sick children. The authors of the Gender Gap study predict it will be 81 years before the pay gap between men and women is resolved. With the U.S. vaccination schedule continuing to increase, unless something happens to change the course we are currently on, I predict the U.S. will only continue to fall further behind other nations, as increasing numbers of mothers will be caring for increasing numbers of chronically ill children. Vaccine-injury affects much more than the child. If affects the family, the community, the economy, and the future. For all of us.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 15:10:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015