Save The Children Ranks Best Places To Be A Mom: US #25

Moms, as Mother’s Day approaches, I feel the need to share this with you. It is off the topic of divorce but not off topic regarding being a mom in the United States.

The Save The Children foundation released their thirteenth annual ranking of the best and worst places to be a mom in the world. As unbelievable as it may seem, the United States ranked number 25. Maybe we should be happy since we moved up by six places since last year.

In essence, they examined the well-being of moms and children all over the world.  Some of the criteria used for the report included infant mortality, contraceptive use, female education, political representation, maternity leave policies and breastfeeding rates. Norway was ranked the number one place to be a mom.

Save the Children’s CEO and President Carolyn Miles states, “The USA still performs below average overall and quite poorly on a number of measures.”

• Lifetime risk of dying from childbirth. Mothers in the USA face a one-in-2,100 risk of maternal death, the highest of any industrialized nation.
• Mortality rate of children. The death rate for children younger than 5 is eight per 1,000 births, on par with Bosnia and Herzegovina. A child in the USA is four times as likely as a child in Iceland to die before age 5. Forty countries performed better than the U.S.
• Maternity leave policies. Policies in the USA are among the least generous of any wealthy nation. It is the only developed country, and one of only a handful of countries in the world, that does not guarantee working mothers paid leave.

Miles states, “The U.S. has moved up, but it’s still not great, falling near the bottom among most wealthy nations.”

All I can say is, How can we wonder why women aren’t treated fairly in divorce court when working mothers in the United States are not even guaranteed paid maternity leave?

Photo: Mat Culpepper