| March 8, 2004―Today is International Women's Day and events will be held around the globe to raise awareness on issues related to women. In particular, the 48th Commission on the Status of Women will hold an event at the UN headquarters in New York focusing on gender and HIV/AIDS, among other issues. (Click here for more information on the conference). One of the key issues facing women everywhere is reproductive health and education. Improving women’s reproductive health underpins all the Millennium Development Goals—enabling women to plan their families, spacing their birth and delaying child bearing so that girls can get educated to break the cycle of poverty.
Well educated women have better educated and healthier children. A one-year increase in the schooling of all adult females in a country is associated with an increase in GDP per capita of around $700. Each year more than 500,000 women, 99 percent of them in developing countries, lose their lives to preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. 
Woman and Child |
Maternal mortality ratios, in particular, reflect the widest disparity in human development indicators between developed and developing countries and between the rich and the poor within countries. In addition to improved health, sexual and reproductive health services contribute to economic growth, societal and gender equity, and democratic governance.
Elizabeth Lule |
“Investing in women’s health has a direct impact on decreasing poverty and achieving wider social and economic goals” says Elizabeth Lule, the World Bank's Population and Reproductive Heath Advisor in the Human Development Network. To better appreciate the returns on sexual and reproductive health investments, policy makers need both a fuller accounting of these broad benefits than has been available to date and more complete information about costs. Beyond medical outcomes are larger individual, family and societal benefits: · Improved sexual and reproductive health has an impact on achievement of all of the Millennium Development Goals. · By keeping young adults healthy and productive, by allowing parents to have smaller families and thus devote greater time and financial resources to each child, and investing in the formation of human and social capital, sexual and reproductive health services contribute to economic growth and equity. · By enabling young women to delay childbearing until they have achieved education and training goals and preventing stigmatizing medical conditions, sexual and reproductive health services contribute toward improving women’s social position and increasing their community and political participation. · Curbing and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS pandemic on women and families, helping women balance work and family, and preventing maternal and child deaths.
Beyond education outcomes are broader societal benefits. For example, a one year increase in the schooling attainment of all adult females in a country is associated with: * an increase in GDP per capita of around $700 USD * an increase in the share of industry and services in economic activities of 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively, and a reduction in the share of agriculture of 1% * an increase in female formal sector labor force participation rates of 0.7% * a reduction in children's labor force participation of 1.4 percentage points * an increase in contraceptive use of 4.5 percentage points * a 4.3% increase in the proportion of females continuing on to secondary school * an increase in female and male life expectancy of 1 year * an increase in the share of the population with access to safe water and sanitation of 3.7 and 5.4 percentage points, respectively |
| | Sexual and reproductive ill health accounts for one-third of the global burden of disease among women of reproductive age and one-fifth of the burden of disease among the population overall. HIV/AIDS accounts for 6 percent of the global burden of disease. The need for sexual and reproductive health services, and thus the potential benefit of meeting the need, is greatest among the poorest women, men and children in the world’s lowest-income countries. Satisfying the unmet need for contraceptive services in developing countries would avert 52 million unintended pregnancies annually, which, in turn, would save more than 1.5 million lives and prevent more than 7 million infant deaths in their first month of life. |
Improving girls education is intrinsically linked to reducing maternal mortality and other key human development indicators. Providing girls with an education boosts economic productivity, lowers maternal and infant mortality rates and reduces poverty.
“Equalizing opportunities is what International Women’s Day is all about,” says Carolyn Winter, the World Bank's Senior Education Specialist in the Human Development Network. “Advancing girls’ education is key to making that a reality…Investment in girls’ education is one of the best investments a country can make.” Related Links:
http://www.worldbank.org/gender/ |
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