UNICEF’s MDG World Cup

If watching the world games are too stressful for you, UNICEF has a handy alternative. They’re tracking the world cup and competing the countries in the tournament according to their progress on the Millennium Development Goals. Today’s match-up was England vs. Slovenia. While England is the clear MDG winner, it’s not the total rout you might expect.

The UNICEF blog looks at MDG 3. Promote gender equality and empower women.  England and Slovenia aren’t so far apart. As UNICEF puts it, “Both the UK and Slovenia are doing well on ensuring girls’ access to education, however when it comes to transferring this commitment to equality into adulthood both countries show real weaknesses.” Women are 50% of the population of Britain but they are only 22% of British parliament. Slovenia’s parliament is 12% female. UNICEF also points out that Rwanda has 56% of its parliament seats held by women, so both the UK and Slovenia have something to aspire to.

Other UNICEF MDG match-ups include South Africa vs. Mexico, Brazil vs. Ivory Coast, Chile vs. Honduras and Nigeria vs. South Korea. You can find them all at the UNICEF Authentic Voices blog.