Bob,

You are right that the difference here is minuscule and that has to do a lot with the prosperity. Without prosperity that minuscule difference grows to be a monstrous difference. We saw how good the women rights were in this country during KATRINA. In chaos people come down to becoming animals and in our country chaos is an everyday thing.Human beings pretty much behave the same way if things are normal. We see less of women rights abuse here in this country because prosperity has made a woman possible to get out of the oppression and start a new thing. Unfortunately in Nepal that is not an option for each and every woman.

Yes in India woman was elected as a head of the state. Indira Gandhi had it easier with her father's background but more than that it was the willingness of people to vote for a woman to lead the country. Imaging if Hillary had won the primaries, would she have been elected as a president in this country. Lets forget about the national election, didn't she loose primaries because she is a woman. American men would rather vote a  Man instead of a women.

Sid