This morning, the internet informed me that the United States was not among one of the 20 best countries for women. As an American woman, I was naturally curious about why my country was not ranked higher. What organization made this determination, and what were the criteria? I learned that the decree had been issued by the World Economic Forum, an international lobbying organization founded in 1971 and based in Switzerland.

According to their website, “The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.” The Forum has attracted criticism on the grounds of elitism and lack of transparency, as well as the public cost of running their business due to their refusal to pay taxes and reliance on police and military security.

I had already concluded that the World Economic Forum was not a reliable arbiter of what was or was not a good country for women before I came to the list of countries that they considered the best. When I saw that their list included the Philippines, I knew the Forum’s opinion was worthless.

Image by KamranAydinov at freepik.

And what about the Philippines invalidates the rating of the World Economic Forum? The Philippines is the only country in the world where divorce is illegal. In America, a country that didn’t make the cut, divorce is easy.

Some may feel that divorce is too easy in this country, but that is a subject for another discussion. What matters is that, in this country, a woman can get out of a bad marriage. She does not need to prove that her husband abused her or broke the marriage contract. All she has to do is contact a divorce attorney.

An individual divorce case might be prolonged, messy, or even violent, but under the law, a woman has the right to leave a bad marriage. She does not have to justify her decision, and she can get a fresh start.

The World Economic Forum does not appear to care about this aspect of women’s lives. It ranked the Philippines 16th as one of the twenty best countries for women, basing this decision solely on economic opportunities; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.

Clearly, the Forum does not consider the thousands of women trapped in marriages with abusive husbands to be worthy of their attention. The Forum either does not care, or is unaware, that thousands of women in the Philippines are powerless to escape bad, or even dangerous, marriages. The only way out is an annulment, which costs thousands of dollars and takes many years, and can be overruled in the end by the government itself.

There is nothing wrong with women participating in politics, and I am sure that for women who have reached a high status in the Philippines and are fortunate enough to be happy in their marriages, life is good, but any country where thousands of women are trapped in bad marriages is not a good country for women.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of The Pardon, a story of forgiveness based on the thief on the cross in the Bible.