Dhaka 7th worst megacity for women: Reuters Foundation

The Thomson Reuters Foundation found that Dhaka city is the seventh most dangerous megacity in the world for women.

It ranked fourth worst in terms of the sexual violence ranking, which measured whether women could live without facing risk of rape, sexual attack or harassment. The three cities with worse risk were Delhi, Sao Paulo and Cairo, reports bdnews24.com.

Dhaka was also third worst in the cultural practices index, which measured how protected women are from harmful practices including female genital mutilation, child, early or forced marriage and female infanticide. Only Kinshasa and Cairo ranked worse.

Dhaka ranked 12th worst in terms of women’s access to healthcare, which included control over reproductive health and maternal mortality, and economic opportunities, which measured access to resources such as education, ownership of land and property, and financial services like bank accounts.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation poll was compiled after asking women’s issues experts in 19 of the world’s 31 megacities. A megacity is defined as an urban area that houses over 10 million people.

The survey was conducted between Jun 1 and Jun 28, 2017 and included online and telephone interviews with aid professionals, academics, health workers, NGOs, policy-makers, development specialists and social commentators.

The three worst megacities for women were Cairo, Kinshasa and Karachi. New Delhi came in fourth.

The three best megacities for women were London, Tokyo and Paris.