Here's a pop quiz on gender equality. In which part of the world are women most likely to reach the highest rungs of power? Choice A offers new moms 12 weeks of maternity leave, almost no subsidized child care, no paid paternity leave and has a notoriously hard-driving business culture. Choice B gives them five months to three years of paid time off from their jobs after having kids. Millions put their offspring into state-sponsored day-care centers for several hours a day. Government agencies, full of female directors and parliamentarians, protect workers at the expense of business and favor a kinder, gentler corporate culture. So which place is better for women who want to make it to the top? If you guessed A, the United States, you'd be right. If you chose B—Europe—think again.

Why is this? Simply put, Europe is killing its women with kindness—enshrined, ironically, in cushy welfare policies that were created to help them. By offering women extremely long work leaves after children, then pushing them to take the full complement via tax policies that discourage a second income, coupled with subsidies that serve to keep them at home, Europe is essentially squandering its female talent. Not only do women get off track for long periods, many simply never get back on.

There's a lot more in the article on how the welfare state has handicapped the female career.

One point brought up later is the tax-structure in many European countries. In Britain, for instance, I've heard an off-hand estimate by a West Londoner that someone like Mick Jagger would lose 95% of his income to all-forms of taxes.

Evidently, one reason Paul McCartney is still loved is because he stayed in the country (thus subjecting himself to British taxes).

The ending of the article kind of left me at a loss, though. After spending the entire article slamming too much government intervention, the piece finishes by applauding these steps:

Norway recently decreed that all corporate boards must be 40 percent female within two years, or face being shut down

I had to read that twice to believe it. Shutting down a private company if their corporate board is not 40 percent female.