Most of us aren’t too thrilled about what’s happening in the neighbourhood. Things are, quite literally, a bloody mess. Blasts, land mines, sectarian violence. But the real tragedy is that those are not the biggest tragedies. In Afghanistan, for instance, one in eleven women risks dying in childbirth.

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Try and imagine this. Take the names of eleven women you know. At the eleventh name, blink. That woman just disappeared from your life. Think of what it means to live like that, knowing that a pregnancy can so easily lead to a funeral. Or think of what it’s like to have your little sister killed by her in-laws.

And think about how this could have happened to a nation that was created in the name of a religion that actually forbids dowry.

Now think about your proximity to them. Not geographical proximity, no. Consider how close India is to her neighbours on the list of worst places to be a woman.

On that list, India is sandwiched between Somalia and Pakistan. Along with Afghanistan and DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), we form a cosy club of Worst Five (for women), according to a recent survey compiled by Thomson Reuters foundation.

Because we’re so upbeat about India, we’re squirming. We would like to say: ‘That’s not fair!’ We want to find some fault with the data. We want to shout: ‘But on what basis?’

Not on the basis on what women wear or how many boyfriends they have. We were judged on the basis of health, discrimination, sexual violence, human trafficking and conflict-related violence. And we were found grossly, cruelly lacking.

Reports suggest that DRC could stake claim as the rape capital of the world. Pakistan makes it to the list on the strength of dowry deaths and honour killings, and because 90% women confront domestic violence. India doesn’t lack for killings, underage marriages (44.5% of girls are married before 18) or rapes. In conflict zones (think of Chhattisgarh or Manipur) there’s special treatment reserved for women. But it’s trafficking that got us into the club.

Which suggests that we don’t just treat women like property, we trade in them quite freely, and it’s not like outsiders are coming to steal away the ladies — 90% of the trafficking is internal.

Another reason we are ranked high on violence is that millions are ‘missing’ from the population. Either they aren’t allowed to be born or are killed immediately after. The Thomson Reuters survey estimates 50 million girls were lost to foeticide and infanticide. But our own census tells us the sex ratio is 914 females per 1,000 males and that it’s gotten worse since 2001 (933/1,000).

Which is depressing news, brothers and sisters. It’s rotten news. There is some good news, however. Only, not from India. In Brazil, which is like India in many ways (or so I’ve heard), the first woman president Dilma Rousseff promised that at least 30% of her cabinet would be female. She needs just two more ministers to make good her promise. Not only that, she’s starting to give women key portfolios, the equivalent of Commerce or Home ministries, rather than the traditionally ‘feminine’ portfolios like social welfare. The media, I hear, are calling Planalto Palace (Brazil’s seat of government) the ‘Palace of the Amazons’.

Will this translate into Brazil becoming a better nation? I, for one, am hopeful. Studies suggest that wherever women hold positions of power, it improves its rank on the human development index. Better health, more equity, less gender violence. Less corruption too. So yes, I think I’ll comfort myself with reading about Brazil for now.

— Annie Zaidi writes poetry, stories, essays, scripts (and in a dark, distant past, recipes she never actually tried)