Unchecked inequality, failure to protect the
rights of poorest women could threaten unrest, undermine peace and world’s
development goals, new UNFPA report warns.
- Only about half of the world’s women hold paid jobs
- Globally, women earn 77 per cent of what men get
- Three in five women worldwide lack maternity leave, many pay “motherhood penalty”
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 17 October 2017--Unless inequality is urgently tackled and
the the poorest women empowered to make their own decisions about their
lives, countries could face unrest and threats to peace and to their
development goals, according the The State of World Population 2017,
published today by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The costs of inequalities, including in sexual
and reproductive health and rights, could extend to the entire global
community’s goals, adds the new UNFPA report, entitled, “Worlds Apart:
Reproductive Health and Rights in an Age of Inequality.”
Failure to provide reproductive health
services, including family planning, to the poorest women can weaken
economies and sabotage progress towards the number one sustainable
development goal, to eliminate poverty.
Economic inequality reinforces and is
reinforced by other inequalities, including those in women’s health, where
only a privileged few are able to control their fertility, and, as a result,
can develop skills, enter the paid labour force and gain economic power.
“Inequality in countries today is not only
about the haves and have nots,” UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem
says. “Inequality is increasingly about the cans and cannots.Poor women who
lack the means to make their own decisions about family size or who are in
poor health because of inadequate reproductive health care dominate the ranks
of the cannots.”
In most developing countries, the poorest
women have the fewest options for family planning, the least access to
antenatal care and are most likely to give birth without the assistance of a
doctor or midwife.
Limited access to family planning translates
into 89 million unintended pregnancies and 48 million abortions in developing
countries annually. This does not only harm women’s health, but also restricts
their ability to join or stay in the paid labour force and move towards
financial independence, the report argues.
Lack of access to related services, such as
affordable child care, also stops women from seeking jobs outside the home.
For women who are in the labour force, the absence of paid maternity leave
and employers’ discrimination against those who become pregnant amount to a
motherhood penalty, forcing many women to choose between a career and
parenthood.
“Countries that want to tackle economic
inequality can start by tackling other inequalities, such as in reproductive
health and rights, and tearing down social, institutional and other obstacles
that prevent women from realizing their full potential,” Dr. Kanem says.
