* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The new development agenda must acknowledge that robust protections for sexual and reproductive rights are essential to gender parity
Around the globe, women and girls continue to have a status subordinate to that of their male equivalents. They have fewer opportunities and lower incomes; less control over resources and, typically, wield less power than men and boys.
Inequality is deeply rooted - it’s fed by traditional or cultural norms, ideological and political factors, and discriminatory laws. But some of the most striking inequalities exist in the area of rsexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) .
Sexual and reproductive health and rights give women the ability to control their fertility which influences many other aspects of their lives – employment, education, family, and social and economic participation.
In terms of social development, when women are able to maintain good health, the trajectory of their lives can be transformed. There are fewer maternal deaths and less reproductive illness. If women and girls can realize their SRHR, they are more able to participate in social, economic and political life.
Around the world too many women still do not have adequate access to modern contraceptives, and too many risk their health and lives during pregnancy and childbirth.
Globally, one in three women experience either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence during their lifetime. And, shockingly, women who have experienced intimate partner violence are 50% more likely to contract HIV.
And then there’s work and economic participation. It is estimated that women account for two-thirds of the 1.4 billion people currently living in extreme poverty. They also make up 60 percent of the world’s 572 million working poor.
While rapid global change has opened doors for women to participate in social, economic and political life, gender inequality still holds them back.
The percentage of women working in formal wage employment has increased over the last half century, but a striking number of women are still likely to work in the informal economy due to gender inequality.
In political life, too, women’s opportunities to participate in decision making are limited. As a result, women’s domestic roles are over-emphasized, they have less time to engage in activities outside of the home. This then restricts their influence on informal decision making, which tends to be hidden or not respected.
Hardly surprising then that, worldwide, only one in five parliamentarians is female.
Party politics and strategic resources tend to be dominated by men. Female voters are four times as likely as their male equivalents to be targeted for intimidation in elections in fragile states. After all, would you vote if you faced threats on your way to the polling station?
There is something we can do to change this – something that goes to the very heart of poverty eradication and development goals. We can uphold sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Right now, governments are negotiating a set of goals to end poverty and achieve sustainable economic, environmental and social development by the year 2030.
If the U.N.’s goals of combating inequality and poverty are to be realized, the new development agenda must be grounded in human rights and acknowledge that robust protections for sexual and reproductive rights are essential to gender parity and women’s health.
That’s why we are asking governments and the United Nations agencies to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights are at the heart of the new development goals.
Because if everyone can decide who they live with, what happens to their body and the size of their family, if they are free to make decisions about these fundamental rights –then they can contribute to social, economic and political life and tackle gender inequality. It’s the freedom from which all other freedoms flow.
Alison Marshall is Senior Advisor, Advocacy for the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
