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Reproductive Health in Developing Countries 

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Reproductive Health in Developing Countries 

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Hanna S
This article is about reproductive health in developing countries.

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Pregnancy and childbirth occur within a continuum of all aspects of women's lives. In poor communities in developing countries women are often at a disadvantage both within their own country and in comparison with more developed states.
This is reflected in every aspect of their life, from nutrition, education and employment, to their power to take decisions about their own and their children's lives, and their access to health care.

For example, all women need to be able to obtain skilled antenatal, postnatal and emergency obstetric care during pregnancy, childbirth, and after the birth. In developing countries, though, many women do not or cannot access the care they need. The reasons for this include:

Health care being of poor quality, even when it is available

Prohibitive costs of care

Lack of transport

Not having the information they need to care for themselves and to recognise the danger signs

Cultural factors that undermine their right to make judgements and decisions on their own behalf.

Most of the complications that arise during delivery could be prevented or managed if women had access to care from a skilled birth attendant during childbirth - such as a doctor, nurse, midwife or trained birth attendant. But in low-income countries, poor people have less access to affordable health care than those who are wealthy. And even where people can access those health services, the facilities often fail to meet their needs because they lack resources and trained staff.

Women and Children First works in a growing number of countries to improve the knowledge and skills of healthcare staff who are providing maternal and newborn health services. We assist in developing teaching materials and training health care staff at every level, including midwives, community health workers and traditional birth attendants.

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Pregnancy and childbirth occur within a continuum of all aspects of women's lives. In poor communities in developing countries women are often at a disadvantage both within their own country and in comparison with more developed states.

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Gender Inequality in Developing Countries Ranked 

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Gender Inequality in Developing Countries Ranked 

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Hanna S

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On March 5, 2009, the OECD's Development Center will present this new measure at the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Complementing existing indices on gender equality that measure outcomes such as life expectancy or access to primary education, the Development Centre's Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) introduces a new measure -social institutions as the key determinant for women's involvement in economic and social life.

It draws on 12 institutional variables relating to household behaviour and social norms, including such practices as child marriage and genital mutilation but also factors like freedom of movement and restrictions on inheritance and access to property rights.

In countries with high SIGI values, such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Mali, building more schools or giving micro-credit to women risk being ineffective when traditions forbid girls to leave the house alone after puberty and they are deprived from access to land, technology and information. SIGI shows persistent discrimination and repression in southern Asia, sub-Saharan African and the Middle East (see map).

Alongside the index, country notes give a more detailed picture of the economic and social situation of women in developing countries, while a new version of the OECD Development Centre's online platform for sharing information on gender issues, www.wikigender.org, allows users to debate and comment on the index and its rankings.

Map of gender discrimination

The SIGI shows the important influence of social institutions on the economic role of women. The more discriminatory social institutions are, the lower the rate of female participation in the labour force, for example. Early marriage - largely forced - is a key factor here. Women's access to paid jobs is crucial not only for their personal well-being but also for economic development.
Contacts the following people for more information:
Paris: Espen Beer Prydz, +33 1 45 24 96 21, Estelle Loiseau, +33 1 45 24 95 59

New York: Johannes Jutting, +33 6 28 69 29 01, Denis Drechsler, +1 202 492 7688

Washington, DC: Denis Drechsler, +1 202 492 7688

Or visit:
Social Institutions and Gender Index and more information on our work on gender.

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OECD tracks gender inequality in developing countries

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On March 5, 2009, the OECD's Development Center will present this new measure at the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

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Zackari Hanssen

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On UNDP's Revisions to the Gender-Related Development Index | Human Development Reports

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In a recent article (Bardhan and Klasen, 1999) we had reviewed UNDP's gender-related indices included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1995. In particular, we had suggested certain modifications to the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI), including a revision of the earned income component of the GDI.

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Zackari Hanssen

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gender related development - Google Search

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Hanna S
You can see inequality in the developed countries.

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European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

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Uploaded by Dominique Robinson on 2015-12-04.

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Hanna S

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Gender equality means empowering women and girls

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Zackari Hanssen

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European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

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Gender & IDA: Fostering gender equality and empowerment

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In the poorest countries, gender inequities acutely limit opportunities for girls and women. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are among the most effective ways to combat poverty, hunger, and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable.

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Zackari Hanssen
This video is about how people have different cultures.

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Hanna Sperrazza
This article is about empowering women in deveolping countries.

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In 2009, Bill Gates visited Saudi Arabia and was asked how Saudi Arabia could attain its goal of becoming one of the top countries in the world. In response, Gates said "Well, if you're not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you're not going to get too close to the Top 10." Women deserve equal rights and treatment, but for many men in cultures that have yet to embrace this fact, this reality may not be enough to change minds. Enter money-what are the monetary incentives to help women contribute to the well-being of their own countries?

Women across the world represent about 40% of the world's workforce. This is a huge figure, and exemplifies the need for allowing this 40% to gain proper education to increase human capital potential, besides the obvious rights to education that any young girl or boy should possess. A study found that each year of education of women correlated with a decrease of child mortality by 9.5%. That's a heavy figure to consider; it should be criminal for a developing country not to invest in women. The International Monetary Fund estimates that if women were able to access the same resources for agriculture, food production could increase by 2.5 to 4%. If that wasn't enough reason to begin to treat women as equals in developing nations, then consider the fact that women make up a disproportionate figure of 70% of the world's poor.

Allowing women to have equal rights and treatment in developing countries has a variety of benefits. Less workplace discrimination means more women can work instead of being outsiders to the economy of a country. Increasing the career opportunities and general rights for women could also usher in more investment from developed countries who may find more cultural connection with the developing nation. Studies have also shown that women are better at spending money in ways that benefit children than men, but, currently, women are earning significantly less than men across the world.

By empowering women in developing nations, poverty rates could be slashed, businesses could be started, existing industries could be revitalized and greater human capital resources could be fully realized. Gates said it best, and with elegance. The question really just becomes: why waste half of the talent you have?

- Martin Yim

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In 2009, Bill Gates visited Saudi Arabia and was asked how Saudi Arabia could attain its goal of becoming one of the top countries in the world. In response, Gates said "Well, if you're not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you're not going to get too close to the Top 10."

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Zackari Hanssen
This article is about the people equality

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Empowering women and girls

Despite many international agreements affirming their human rights, women and girls are still much more likely than men to be poor and illiterate. They have less access to property ownership, credit, training and employment. They are far less likely than men to be politically active and far more likely to be victims of domestic abuse and other forms of violence.

Gender equality will be achieved only when women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life. This means sharing equally in the distribution of power and influence, and having equal opportunities for financial independence, education and realizing their personal ambitions.

Gender equality demands the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. When women are empowered, whole families benefit, and these benefits often have a ripple effect on future generations.

Gender equality benefits not only women, but their families and communities as well. A Hmong woman in the village of Sin Chai, Viet Nam. ©UN Photo/Kibae Park

Taking action

The roles that men and women play in society are not biologically determined. They are socially determined, changing and changeable. And while they may be justified as being required by culture or religion, these roles vary widely by locality and evolve over time. Efforts to promote women's empowerment should ensure cultural considerations are respected while women's and girls' rights are upheld.

Effectively promoting gender equality also requires recognizing that women are diverse in the roles they play, as well as in age, social status, ability, geographic location and educational attainment. The fabric of their lives and the choices available to them vary widely.

UNFPA aims to respond to the needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable - including adolescent girls, people living with disabilities, indigenous peoples, migrants, women refugees, female heads of households and those living in extreme poverty. In 2017, UNFPA supported gender equality-related legislation, policy reform and development in countries around the world.

One critical, and often overlooked, requirement for promoting gender equality is the collection of sex- and age-disaggregated data, which helps reveal where progress has taken place and where it is flagging. UNFPA works with countries to build capacity for data gathering and analysis.

Key issues

Experience has shown that addressing gender equality and women's empowerment requires strategic interventions at all levels of programming and policy-making. Key issues include:

Reproductive health: The ability of women to control their own fertility is fundamental to women's empowerment and equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. Protecting and promoting her reproductive rights - including the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of her children - is essential to ensuring her freedom to participate more fully and equally in society.

In addition, for both physiological and social reasons, women are more vulnerable than men to reproductive health problems. Collectively, complications of pregnancy or childbirth are the number two killer of women of reproductive age. Failure to provide information, services and conditions to help women protect their reproductive health constitutes gender-based discrimination and is a violation of women's rights to health and life.

Economic empowerment: Six out of 10 of the world's poorest people are women. Economic disparities persist partly because much of the unpaid work within families and communities falls on the shoulders of women, and because women continue to face discrimination in the economic sphere.

Educational empowerment: About two thirds of the world's illiterate adults are women. Lack of an education severely restricts a woman's access to information and opportunities. Conversely, increasing women's and girls' educational attainment benefits both individuals and future generations. Higher levels of women's education are strongly associated with lower infant mortality and lower fertility, as well as better outcomes for their children.

Political empowerment: Gender equality cannot be achieved without the backing and enforcement of institutions. But too many social and legal institutions still do not guarantee women equality in basic legal and human rights, in access to or control of resources, in employment or earnings, or in social or political participation. And men continue to occupy most positions of political and legal authority; globally, only 24 per cent of parliamentarians are women. Laws against domestic violence are often not enforced on behalf of women.
Last updated 10 May 2018.

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Gender equality is a human right. Women are entitled to live with dignity and with freedom from want and from fear. Gender equality is also a precondition for advancing development and reducing poverty: Empowered women contribute to the health and productivity of whole families and communities, and they improve prospects for the next generation.

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Hanna Sperrazza
This is a chart that shows indicators of the Gender Inequality Index.

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Zackari Hanssen I added this because it shows gender inequality