The right to vote in and of itself is not what makes a democracy. As far as poor women were concerned, Ireland was more like Afghanistan than a western European democracy during much of the twentieth century.
I bring up Ireland to illustrate what can lie behind any facade of freedom, justice, etc.
How does poo in parks say anything about politics or freedom or general prosperity? Absence of poo likewise. Or the presence of drunks or junkies on streets (which is a striking element of British city and town centre life too)?
Living conditions in many parts of the world were and in some cases are still very similar to those found in poorer rural areas of Russia not too long ago. Rural electrification in Ireland was completed in 1973. My mother grew up in a home lit by candles and lanterns. An aunt of mine finally got a phone after years on the waiting list some time in the early 80s.
Ireland has made big strides, but as the experience of Savita Halapannavar in Galway Hospital showed, women are still second class citizens when it comes to dispensing medical care. The recent Irish banking crisis brought to light a very cozy relationship between politicians and the titans of the Irish banking and property development world that shows the only thing you can truly rely on in public life is that people seem to lose their inhibitions to an alarming degree when other people's money is at stake, and that those responsible for theft on a grand scale will protect each other no matter what the cost to the public. Corruption and a 'screw the public' attitude mean that every individual in Ireland owes just over $60,000 to Ireland's creditors, an amount exceeded only by Japan. In what sense is this freedom?
Two of my DCs spent teenage summers volunteering in the American Appalachian region making homes habitable in deprived and isolated counties. They encountered poverty and helplessness and addiction there on a scale they never thought possible. It doesn't mean America isn't a good place to live, for many.
The DCs grew up in an American state where four of the last seven governors went to jail for corruption. One prominent Congressman and his wife negotiated a plea deal on their corruption charges. At any given time several city council members of the local big city are being investigated by the FBI for corruption and many have done time for corruption. You would think in a society that claims to be one where the rule of law is respected that individuals holding public office would realise they shouldn't be trying to sell Senate seats, making state employees 'donate' to their election campaigns and squeezing them so hard that they sold drivers licences to individuals who couldn't drive trucks safely and who then went on to kill entire families out on the motorways.
Whether America itself is a democracy any longer was recently questioned by a study by Princeton and Northwestern academics who concluded, "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence." An oligarchy in other words. Again, it doesn't mean America isn't a good place to live, for many. For the time being.