UNFPA urges faster pace towards gender equality to reduce world poverty

Unless nations act now to end gender discrimination and provide equal social, cultural, economic and political rights to women, they will not be able to eradicate poverty, possibly for many generations to come UNFPA said recently.

Panelists during the launch of the report in Bangkok

“I am here today to say that world leaders will not make poverty history until they make gender discrimination history”, UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid told a press briefing in London at the launch of the Fund’s new report, the State of World Population 2005. Entitled “The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals”, the report assesses progress, examines shortfalls and provides examples of interventions that seem to work.
Investing in women and girls makes economic sense, the report says, because discrimination leads to lower productivity and higher health costs, results in higher death rates of women, and is a major threat to efforts to reduce poverty.
A lack of contraceptives, family planning support and reproductive health assistance leads to 529,000 women dying every year from pregnancy-related causes, most of them preventable. The world population is almost 6.5 billion today, and is expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050 – and a lack of access to contraceptives is one of the primary causes of an estimated 76 million unwanted pregnancies, and 19 million unsafe abortions each year. HIV/AIDS constitutes the leading cause of death and illness among women aged 15 to 44, and the report estimates that 250 million years of productive life are lost as a result.
“Investing in the political, economic and education opportunities for women and girls, on the other hand, yields quick wins and high pay-offs”, says the report, which in turn leads to “better economic prospects, smaller families, healthier and more literate children, lower HIV prevalence rates and reduced harmful traditional practices”, all of which play a part in cutting poverty.
The report was launched worldwide on 12 October. In Bangkok, a panel discussion organized by the UNFPA Country Technical Services Team (CST) for East and South-East Asia marked the event. Bringing together various experts from Thailand, the panel discussion, held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand, focused on the major topics raised in the report.
The various members of the panel were Dr. Siripon Kanshana, Office of the Health Inspector General, Ministry of Public Health; Dr. Pawadee Tonguthai, Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University; Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan, Chaiperson, Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA); Mr. G. Giridhar, CST Director for East and South-East Asia and UNFPA Representative in Thailand; and Mr. William Ryan, UNFPA Information Officer for Asia and the Pacific Region.
Highlighting one chapter of the report focusing particularly on adolescents, Dr. Siripon expressed concerns about the high level of adolescent pregnancy in Thailand, stating that 12 per cent of pregnancy occurred among adolescents, despite a nation-wide target of less than 10 per cent.