Gender inequality ‘an insurmountable obstacle for many women’
Gender inequality ‘an insurmountable obstacle for many women’
UN population fund says lack of empowerment affects every aspect of life for women in the world’s 48 least developed countries
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A woman and her daughters in the village of Cambadju in Bafata region, Guinea-Bissau, which has been on the UN’s list of least developed countries since 1981. Photograph: Unicef/Lemoyne/EPA
Millions of women and girls in the world’s poorest countries are being denied the opportunity to help drive development because of the “countless barriers” they still face in health, education and employment, a report warns. The study, by the UN population fund, UNFPA, says that while the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) have made considerable progress over the past few decades in reducing infant, child and maternal mortality, and increasing contraceptive use, gender inequality often remains an insurmountable obstacle.
“From adolescence onwards, millions of girls and women are still denied access to schooling or the chance to fulfil their productive potential. They are marrying at ages too young to ensure independent choice, and they are using modern contraceptives at rates far below the global average, with the resulting consequence that reproductive life starts early, is entered into without access to healthcare, and is sustained for many years at high risk to health and life,” it says.
The report adds that the denial of choice and empowerment affects “every aspect of life” for many women in LDCs – and needs to be placed at the centre of the global development agenda.Although the study recognises that the rates of death among children under five have more than halved in LDCs since 1990, that life expectancy is growing and that the fertility rate is falling – from 6.2 children in 1985-90 to 4.3 in 2010-12 – it says LDCs need to do more to anticipate the approaching phase of accelerated development.
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But, says the report: “A demographic dividend is achieved only by ensuring that every adolescent and youth – especially every women and girl – can anticipate excellent health and innovative education, freedom of opportunity and decent employment, and the chance to go through life’s critical transitions – from childhood to family formation and old age – without risk of being derailed by child marriage or unplanned childbearing, maternal morbidity, exposure to violence or displacement, the pain of discrimination, or the risk of early death.”
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