Safest countries for solo female DNs
Sadly enough not all countries are safe to travel to, despite them having amazing opportunities and awesome places to discover. That said, even in 2021 are some countries less accessible to women than men. This can be for a number of reasons, but culture is often the main influence. Please keep an open mind while reading this article. Even when a country is named for being “female unfriendly” this obviously does not apply to everyone. Every country has very respectful and friendly people who’s image sadly enough suffers from prejudice and generalization from the outside community.
When I mention “female unfriendly” what do I actually mean? I mean countries which score on the lower end of the scale on the Women’s Danger Index, a ranking set up by Asher and Lyric Fergusson. In this index they focused on a couple of variables to determine the success rate of a female solo traveler. These variables include: street safety for women, intentional homicide of women, non-partner sexual violence, intimate partner violence, legal discrimination, global gender gap, gender inequality index and violence against women. For an in depth description of why countries have a certain ranking, please visit the website of the husband-wife travel duo.
The Index comes up with a list of rank 1 (most dangerous) to 50 (least dangerous out of the dangerous countries for women). But, to summarize it, here are the 20 “worst” entrants:
- South Africa
- Brazil
- Russia
- Mexico
- Iran
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Morocco
- India
- Thailand
- Malaysia
- Saudi Arabia
- Turkey
- Argentina
- Chile
- Cambodia
- Bahrain
- Tunisia
- USA
- Ukraine
Some of the entrants of the (complete) list are surprising to say the least. Especially, considering that countries which are deemed very suitable destinations for Digital Nomads such as Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have a rather poor score on the Index. Having seen the least favourable destinations for female solo travelers, we also need to address the better destinations. According to Worldpackers are this the countries where women need to worry the least about their travel endeavours:
- Finland
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Uruguay
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Austria
- Iceland
- Japan
- Chile
It goes without saying that entrants on the list of countries where women can travel “safely” is not completely safe. But, figures show that they are way less problematic for female travelers than their “worst” counterparts.
Digital Nomads travel often, but how frequent that is really depends on the person. Some will stay the length of a Visa (often 3 months), others decide to settle for a bit longer (over a year). Taking that into account there can also be a list summed up of best countries to live in (long term) for women. According to Insider these are the best countries to live in as a women (ranking based on human rights, gender equality, income equality, progress, and safety):
- Denmark
- Sweden
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Canada
- Finland
- Switzerland
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Austria
- Germany
- Luxembourg
- United Kingdom
- France
- USA
- Italy
- Spain
- Japan
- Portugal
Another surprising find comes from cross referencing the list of safest places to solo travel for women and the list of best countries to live as a woman. You’d expect that most of the countries would align, seeing that safety is one of the variables of best countries to live in as a woman. But, what can be gathered from cross referencing these lists is that this are probably (and statistically) the best countries for solo female digital nomads:
- Finland
- New Zealand
- Canada
- Japan
- Austria
- Switzerland
Maybe at this point you are thinking of your next travels, and one of the winners of female friendliest countries has peaked your interest. You can head over to the DNN city guides. Here you can start comparing cities and find one which fits all your needs such as sunny weather, good internet, and accommodation prices. Or are you already fortunate enough to live in one of the winning countries? Why not share your amazing country and experiences by adding to the city guides or write an article to help out future (female) DNs who are interested in coming to your country? Good luck on your future travels and stay safe!