WomenCo.

I always find the UN rankings like this interesting.  I usually tend to agree, but always wish that I had a great depth of experience when forming my opinions.  I do love and am proud of being an American citizen, however my ethnicity in Norwegian (ranked #2!)- 1st generation.

I can say that Norway is far from perfect.  Excedingly high taxes but does place gender equality very high on the list of priorities.  Boards are required to have a relatively equal ratio of men to women, or they face tax "punishments".  My mother always simplified the significant rights of women in her home country to the history- women ran the country and home while the men were out viking.  I unfortunately have not found any significant social science studies directly supporting mother's theory, (though I don't discount it either!)

What I notice about many of the top ranked countries is that, with exception, many of their populations have been culturally, and even religiously, homogenous.  I wonder if given that the largest diversity issue previously faced was gender- these countries have been able to spend mutliple decades (if not centuries) building platforms of gender equality while other's have been splitting focus between gender, cultural, and religious diversity.  Thoughts?  Other perspectives?