Ever wonder how different your life is from that of a woman half a world away, or how similar? The UNFPA has created a new web tool, called Lifelines, to give us a bit of insight into our common, and very different, milestones. Am

ericans for UNFPA describe Lifelines as

With Lifelines, you can put in statistics about your own life - like education, marriage, jobs, relationships and family -- and compare your lifeline to those of other women around the globe. Or you can simply surf and compare the lifelines of women already in the database. The findings are fascinating, especially when looking at maternal health.

One woman in her 40s in Uganda, with little education, has 10 children, has been married since age 18 to someone who "picked her" and is a grandmother several times over.

Anika Rahman , who runs Americans for UNFPA, wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post in which she said:

It's troubling to me that when many Americans think of Africa, Asia and Latin America they only have visions of turmoil and trials. Our TV screens are riddled with images of women starving to death, dying of AIDS, raped by soldiers. The problems seem so far from our own experiences that it makes the women and the seriousness of the situations feel equally distant.

And it becomes hard to imagine that women in Seattle have much in common with women in Senegal or Suriname at all. Instinct might suggest that we are worlds apart, but we all grow up with dreams. We all contemplate marriage and children in some way. And often, we love, laugh and cry at similar situations and celebrate similar passages through life.

… Through Lifelines you can read the story of a 60-year-old from Cambodia whose first job taught her to sew and today she helps victims of domestic violence learn to do so as a means for economic sustainability. You can read the story of an 87-year-old from the U.S. who had her first child at age 27 and safely delivered 7 children in her lifetime. And you can compare your experiences to these and other women in the world.

Yesterday, Womens eNews carried a story highlighting funding for maternal health initiatives around the globe, and linking to Lifelines.

On another note, in Beth Kanter's recent passion and fashion post, Bevson commented that November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Bevson and the March of Dimes on their blog are hoping to get the word out. Given the connection to maternal health, we'd like to help them do that!

Emily McKhann
Website: The Motherhood
Blog: Been There
BlogHer Contributing Editor: BlogHers Act