COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OPENS THIRTY-THIRD SESSION, EXAMINING LINK BETWEEN POPULATION, GENDER, DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
POP/759
COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OPENS THIRTY-THIRD SESSION, EXAMINING LINK BETWEEN POPULATION, GENDER, DEVELOPMENT
20000327The Commission on Population and Development opened its thirty-third annual session this morning, with Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai telling the Commission that the areas under discussion at the current session - the link between population, gender and development - were perhaps the areas where differences among countries were most pronounced.
Mr. Desai said the major United Nations conferences of the last decade had been characterized by two basic themes, people-centred development and long-term sustainability, and an effort had been made to find a common ground among countries whose national concerns differed greatly. The focus of the developing world was on population growth and size and the rising proportion of younger people, while the industrialized countries were concerned with the possible decline and ageing of their populations. The goal now was to bring those "communities of concern" together.
The Commission, a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, is charged with studying and advising the Council on population changes and their effect on economic and social conditions. Following the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), it was decided that the Commission would meet annually, beginning in 1996, to assess implementation of the Cairo Conference's Programme of Action. A five-year review was held at General Assembly special session last July. The current Commission session is the first since the high-level plenary review, and members are examining the link between population, gender and development, as well as proposals for further implementation of the Cairo Programme.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Nafis Sadik, told the Commission that since the Commission met last year two significant demographic events had occurred: the arrival of the 6 billionth baby; and the convening of a special session of the General Assembly to review implementation of the Cairo outcome. Some people were living longer and healthier lives than any time in history, but ways must be identified to meet the basic human needs of all of the Earth's inhabitants. The special session had revealed the need for more urgent action to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality, address the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents, and prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS. A serious lack of financial resources, however, was a chief obstacle to implementation of the Cairo outcome.
Population & Development Commission - 1a - Press Release POP/759 1st Meeting (AM) 27 March 2000
The Director of the Population Division, Joseph Chamie, said a "new international population order" was emerging. Differences in birth and death rates, as well as migration flows, had produced changes in the size, age, structure, composition and distribution of populations. Those changes were profoundly influencing social and economic conditions, political representation and influence, and relationships among countries and regions, as well as between groups within countries. History had shown that such compositional shifts could produce negative public sentiment and xenophobia, but history had also shown that such shifts could generate innovation, revitalization and tolerance. Bold vision and strong leadership would enhance the United Nations ability to make the twenty-first century a much better place, not just for a fortunate few, but for all of its citizens.
Public Health Professor at Columbia University James McCarthy said the Secretary-General's report on world population monitoring had provided a compelling demographic analysis of the way in which gender-related issues influenced demographic events. In particular, below-replacement fertility was a key concern for those developed countries that had failed to provide sufficient support to women and men who sought to pursue both economic independence and childbearing. In those low-fertility settings, womens and men's rights to "determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children" were being seriously compromised by economic and political structures.
In other business, the Commission elected as Chairman Simon B. Arap Bullut (Kenya). He expressed his gratitude and said that since so many were suffering from HIV/AIDS in Africa, more attention should be given to the subject. He called for members' support, so that, together, they would give the objectives of the session and beyond the attention they deserved.
It also elected Antonio Golini (Italy) as Vice-Chairman. The regional groups were encouraged to conclude consultations to enable completion of the Bureau at the next meeting.
Introductions of reports were made by representatives of the UNFPA. Also, a representative of the Population Council led a discussion on the Secretary- General's report on world population monitoring.
Statements were also made by the representatives of Portugal (on behalf of the European Union), Japan, China and the United States.
The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue consideration of the theme -- population, gender and development -- and follow-up actions to the recommendations of the special session.
Population & Development Commission - 2 - Press Release POP/759 1st Meeting (AM) 27 March 2000
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on Population and Development met this morning to begin its thirty-third session, the first following the five-year review and appraisal last July of implementation of the Programme of Action adopted at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. The outcome of that high- level plenary review was the adoption of a comprehensive text on key actions for the further implementation of the Programme.
The current session will focus on the link between population, gender and development. It will also consider follow-up actions to the recommendation of the Cairo Conference, and hold a general debate on national experience with this years topic. (For background, see Press Release POP/758 of 24 March.)
Statements
NITIN DESAI, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said that his Department was responsible for following up most of the major United Nations conferences held in the 1990s and also for supporting the work of the commissions. The conference processes and their follow-ups were interrelated. Indeed, the subject matter of the Commission on Population and Development touched on practically all of the themes of the other conferences held in the 1990s. Two basic strands had characterized the work of the United Nations in those areas: people-centred development and long-terms sustainability.
He said that, in many ways, the Commission was connected to both of those strands, which reflected the very important cross-cutting dimension of its work. In the major conferences, there had been an effort to find a common ground among countries whose national concerns differed greatly. Perhaps, the differences were most marked in the subject of the current Commission session. On one hand, the focus on the developing world was on population growth and size and the rising proportion of younger people. The industrialized countries were concerned with the possible decline and ageing of their populations.
This year's agenda examined such concerns from the perspective of gender, in the midst of preparations for the five-year review of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, he said. In many ways, the Commission's work this year would offer a valuable and important contribution. A third dimension of the connection between the conferences had been that each one had been based on a "community of concern", in terms of analysts and activists who had particular concerns about issues. The goal was to bring those communities of concern together, in terms of better coordination. His Department had sought to promote the idea of a coordinated follow-up to United Nations conference processes by drawing connections between the different work of the commissions.
Dr. NAFIS SADIK, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that two important events covered by demographers everywhere had taken place since the Commission had last met: the observance in October of the birth of the planets 6 billionth person; and the convening in July of a special session of the General Assembly on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Both those events were significant in their own right.
The arrival of the 6 billionth baby was heralded as a day of celebration and a time for reflection, she continued. Some people were now living longer and healthier lives than at any time in history. It was also a time to look forward, and to identify ways to ensure adequate provision for at least the basic human needs of all the Earths inhabitants. The successful conclusion of the special session marked the end of the ICPD + 5 review process, which focused mainly on policy changes and operational experiences at the country level, in order to identify constraints encountered and recommend key actions to overcome them.
She went on to say that the review reveled that urgent action was needed in such areas as: reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality; addressing the sexual and reproductive heath needs of adolescents; and the prevention of HIV/AIDS. It also noted the need for a pragmatic approach when dealing with adolescent reproductive health issues.
The adoption by consensus of the document Key Future Actions for Further Implementation of the Programme of Action was testimony to the seriousness and importance placed on those issues by all countries, she continued. It validated the comprehensive approach to population and development articulated in the Programme of Action. Some of the interim benchmarks included: by 2005, the 1990 illiteracy rate for women and girls should be halved; by 2005, 60 per cent of primary health-care and family-planning facilities should offer the widest achievable range of safe and effective planning methods; and, also by 2005, in order to reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection, at least 90 per cent of young men and women aged 15 to 24 should have access to preventive methods.
A serious lack of financial resources remains one of the chief obstacles to full implementation of the Programme of Action, she said. Donor funding was far below the target agreed to at Cairo. Both increased political will and a renewed commitment to mobilize the necessary resources were essential to further implementation. The special session urged governments and the international community to promote additional mechanisms to increase funding for population and development programmes, in order to ensure their sustainability.
She went on to say that many of the issues before the Commission would be mirrored at the Beijing +5 special session on gender equality only a few months away. It was fitting then that the current session of the Commission had taken the theme population, gender and development. It is up to all of us, she said to ensure that during this session the agreements on these issues remain intact, as they are crucial for the health and well-being of all humanity.
JOSEPH CHAMIE, Director, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that as the twentieth century had come to an end, the worlds population stood at 6 billion. Historically, world population had grown slowly. Two thousand years ago, it numbered approximately 300 million. When Columbus undertook his incredible journey, world population was approaching the half- billion mark, and when Thomas Malthus wrote his population essay at the end of the eighteenth century, world population had not yet grown to 1 billion.
He said that the year the population grew to 1 billion, 1804, France approved the Napoleonic Code, which became the country's first coherent set of laws concerning property, family and individual freedom. For men, not for women, the Code enshrined the principle that all individuals were equal under the law, and it became a standard for many countries around the world. The year that world population grew to 2 billion, 1927, the first world population conference, organized by Margaret Sanger, was convened in Geneva. No women participated in the conference, however, including Margaret Sanger.
The year the world's population grew to 3 billion, 1960, he said, the United States Federal Drug Administration approved the marketing of oral contraceptive pills, the consequences of which had been "revolutionary". Among other things, it gave women control over their reproductive lives. By 1960, mortality rates were falling rapidly in many developing countries, but fertility remained high. As a result, world population was growing at a rapid annual rate of 1.9 per cent. By the end of the decade, the world population growth rate had reached 2 per cent, an all-time world record.
In 1974, when world population reached 4 billion, the groundbreaking World Population Plan of Action was adopted by consensus at the first United Nations intergovernmental conference on population and development, held in Bucharest, he said. A key principle of the Plan, reaffirmed 20 years later in Cairo, was that "all couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so". By the time the population had grown to 5 billion in 1987, HIV/AIDS had become a global epidemic, although few governments had policies in place to halt or even slow the spread of the deadly virus. Then, in a period of only 12 years, by 1999, world population grew by an additional 1 billion people.
Undoubtedly, the twentieth century had been "the most remarkable demographic century ever", he went on. Among its notable events had been: a tripling of world population; the highest annual rate of population growth; the largest annual increase in world population; the shortest time to add an additional billion persons; the shortest time for world population to double; revolutionary improvements in mortality and longevity; unprecedented declines in fertility and family size; enormous migration flows between countries and regions; and increased urbanization and the emergence of "mega-cities".
He said that with increasing globalization, demographic trends and differential had greater meaning and consequences. The rapid rate of population growth in some regions, population decline in others, population ageing, international migration, urbanization, HIV/AIDS, and other demographic trends and population changes were bringing about a "new international population order". Differences in birth and death rates, as well as migration flows, had produced changes in the size, age, structure, composition and distribution of populations for regions, countries and population sub-groups within countries. Those changes were profoundly influencing social and economic conditions, political representation and influence, and relationships among countries and regions, as well as between groups within countries.
A significant consequence of differential growth rates had been the regional shift in world population, he said. Differential rates of growth had also had significant repercussions at the subregional level, and those might also have significant impact within countries. International migration and higher fertility and differential growth rates might lead to changes in a country's composition by language, religion, ethnicity or nationality. History had shown that such compositional shifts could produce negative public sentiment and xenophobia, but history had also shown that such shifts could generate innovation, revitalization and tolerance.
For Japan and the countries of Europe, he said, low fertility, combined with low mortality and increased longevity, was bringing about smaller and older populations. Such demographic change had meant that the number of workers for each retired person had declined markedly in the developed countries. By 2050, that ratio was projected to be 2:1 and, in some countries, there would be fewer than two persons of working age per one older person. While the less developed countries were also ageing, they had continued to increase in size. Africa's population, for example, was growing rapidly. In the past 50 years, Africa's population had more than tripled, from 220 million to 780 million. In the coming decades, taking into account the devastating AIDS epidemic, its population was expected to double, reaching 1.8 billion by 2050.
Another salient feature of the new international population order was the increase in the world's urban population, he continued. Most of the world's population growth was taking place in urban areas, and over the next three decades urban areas in less developed regions were expected to double in size. As a result, world population would see a historic shift in its urban-rural composition: 35 years from today, nearly two thirds of the population would be living in urban areas. In less than two decades, the number of cities with 5 million or more people would be about 60, with the large majority located in the developing world. Many of those cities had reached unprecedented sizes, exceeding 15 or even 20 million inhabitants. By 2015, the largest cities in the world were expected to be Tokyo, Bombay, Lagos, Dhaka and Sao Paulo.
He said that the new order was having increasingly profound social, economic and political consequences. Current and anticipated population trends and demographic differentials, therefore, must be understood, in order that the world community might deal effectively with the changes. The Commission had squarely faced the challenges of the last century. Among other things, it had initiated the convening of three international conferences and the adoption of the World Population Plan of Action and the Programme of Action. It continued to play a vital role in the international population and development debate. Bold vision and strong leadership would enhance the United Nations' ability to make the twenty-first century a much better place, not just for a fortunate few, but for all of its citizens.
BIRGITTA BUCHT, Director and Chief of the Demographic Analysis Branch, UNFPA, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on world population monitoring, 2000 (document E/CN.9/2000/3). The report provides a summary of selected aspects of population, gender and development, and includes a historical review of population and gender issues in the global agenda.
WARIARA MBUGUA, Manager, Gender Theme Group, Technical Branch, Technical and Policy Division, UNFPA, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on monitoring population programmes: population, gender and development (document E/CN.9/2000/4). The report reviews progress with respect to population programmes and related development activities at the country level. It focuses on programme experiences and strategies in the area of gender, population and development initiated in the aftermath of the Cairo Conference. The report also identifies various actions needed to strengthen the incorporation of a gender perspective into policy, programmes and activities in order to promote gender equality.
MOHAMMAD NIZAMUDDIN, Director, Technical and Policy Division, UNFPA, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on the flow of financial resources for assisting in the implementation of the Programme of Action (document E/CN.9/2000/5.) The report examines the flow of funds from donor countries for population assistance in developing countries for 1997 and provisional figures for 1998. The data presented in the report had been gathered with the use of a detailed questionnaire mailed to some 200 donor countries, multilateral organizations and agencies, major private foundations and other non-governmental organizations. He said that many of the figures should be treated as preliminary, since many responses, particularly those from foundations and non-governmental organizations, had not been received by the reports cut-off date. The Commission would be updated as the figures changed.
JAMES McCARTHY, Heilbrunn Professor of Public Health, Colombia University's Mailman School of Public Health, said he had been asked to comment on issues raised in the report of the Secretary-General on world population monitoring, 2000 (document E/CN.9/2000/3). The importance of gender with regard to population and development was completely pervasive. To do justice to the power and importance of gender in shaping demographic change and development, one should not simply add gender to the list of variables usually used in demographic analysis.
Indeed, he said, as the report demonstrated, gender was an overarching concept that must be considered as central to an understanding of all demographic events. The report successfully wove consideration of gender into discussions of family formation, health and mortality, ageing and migration. The Cairo Programme of Action, with its strong and forthright presentation of the critical importance of gender issues as fundamental to just and effective population and development policies, had a revolutionary impact on population policies and programmes, and academic population studies worldwide. The report was a most worthy complement to the Action Programme, as it provided a compelling demographic analysis of the way in which gender-related issues influenced demographic events throughout the world.
Below-replacement fertility characterized some 61 countries, virtually all the more developed countries, he said. Of particular interest were the 13 countries whose total fertility hovered at around or below 1.5, or at least 33 per cent below replacement fertility. Some researchers had concluded that those very low fertility rates were due, in part, to the failure of public policies and public institutions to recognize changes in gender roles, as well as their failure to provide sufficient support to women and men who sought to pursue both economic independence and childbearing. Countries concerned about the economic and social consequences of lower fertility should address the entire structure of laws, policies and programmes that made it possible for their citizens to be both parents and productive members of the national labour force.
Continuing, he said that in those very low fertility settings, womens and men's rights to "determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children" were being "seriously compromised" by economic and political structures that produced conflicts between childbearing and work. If no changes in such policies took place, if men and women were not supported in their efforts to accommodate child rearing into their economic lives, very low fertility would likely persist. Involvement of and support for men in the child-rearing process was especially important, since fertility would likely remain low if women, alone, were expected to combine work and child rearing.
The major demographic issues of the twenty-first century would be those related to population distribution, especially migration, he said. Gender-related issues permeated all of those discussions, as international labour migration provided both opportunities and challenges for families, especially women. On the one hand, labour migration could contribute to women's empowerment, but it could also subject them to the risk of serious economic and personal exploitation. The often dubious legal status of many migrant women made them particularly vulnerable. Their potential exploitation must be addressed by those countries that received large numbers of labour migrants.
He said that contemporary labour migration was quite different in form from past historical patterns. Owing to limited transportation, migration had usually been permanent. "Circular migration", or the flow of people in and out of their resident countries for the sake of work, for varying periods of time, often had serious, negative consequences for the health and well-being of family members. Not surprisingly, women and children appeared to suffer most. Much more should be learned about the way in which circular migration influenced the health and well- being of women, children and families, and programmes to address the pattern must be evolved. Nevertheless, the most devastating form of migration, however, was forced migration, or movement in response to political -- or sometimes, ecological -- emergencies.
Once again, he said, gender was a powerful force in that regard, as displaced women tended to bear a disproportionate share of the hardship associated with forced migration. As the Secretary-General's report stated, traditional advantages of women with respect to men were intensified in the chaos of emergency. Gender issues related to forced migration had emerged in many of those developed countries that received refugees and that granted political asylum. Many of them, out of necessity, would devote increasing attention to the plight of refugees and, in so doing, should incorporate a gender perspective in their efforts. Overall, the consequences of both labour and forced migration for developed countries was considerable, and the political volatility of issues related to migration could not be ignored.
He noted that many developed countries that had traditionally viewed themselves as "migrant-sending" countries, now found themselves in the position of receiving large numbers of migrants, both voluntary migrants and refugees. Adapting to their new status as "migrant-receiving countries" presented a particular challenge to many developed countries, as the process was a source of considerable tension in some settings. Many developed countries now receiving significant numbers of voluntary and forced migrants had been racially and ethnically homogeneous for some time. Not only must they meet the challenge of adapting to increased migration, they must transform themselves into more heterogeneous societies. That was a particularly vexing challenge for some countries, but one which must be addressed forthrightly.
SAJEDA AMIN, Population Council, in discussing the report on world population monitoring, 2000: population, gender and development (document E/CN.9/2000/3), said that the report had used a disarmingly simple analytical strategy of addressing the issue of gender in population issues by presenting an array of disaggregated data on standard population topics -- family formation, marriage and migration. By doing that, the authors had highlighted several complex gender issues concerning population and development that were salient to the twenty-first century.
She was particularly impressed by the fact that those pertinent issues, such as transition to adulthood, importance of gender equity in education, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and international migration and trafficking of women, had been highlighted and identified as trends. Many of those topics had been previously discussed in faddish terms, but there had been very little analysis that had focused on their importance as clearly as the present report.
I have always been a sceptic of faddish research, she said. The present report, however, had turned her around in terms of providing some important data that highlighted the motives behind some of the issues that had become developmental fads in the post-Cairo era. It did a great job of providing important and convincing arguments for focusing research and development efforts on the topics of adolescents, ageing, HIV/AIDS and migration from a gender perspective.
Mr. NIZAMUDDIN, Director, Technical and Policy Division, UNFPA, then introduced the report of the special session of the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (document E/CN.9/2000/2). The report examines the review and appraisal process, as well as the key future actions adopted at the special session. He said that it was important to note that the special session underscored the importance of translating commitments of the Cairo Conference into concrete actions, including increasing political will, creating an enabling environment and mobilizing the required resources to achieve the Cairo goals.
NUNO BRITO (Portugal), speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, said that population, gender and development were interrelated, as gender equality was not only a very important end in itself, but also an essential part of the strategy for achieving worldwide sustainable development. The Union supported the rights-based approach of the Cairo outcome, which was built on concern for human rights. Indeed, it described the rights of women and the girl child as an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights.
He said that much remained to be done to achieve the goals of the Beijing and Cairo Conferences, namely, guaranteeing women and girls the full enjoyment of all human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights. In that report, he emphasized the importance of developing disaggregated data by gender and age, as well as assessing the impact of public policies on gender equality. The achievement of gender equality and development required a dual approach. Mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies would reinforce all of the dimensions of citizenship. The empowerment of women and their full and equal access to the decision-making process were essential conditions for free and democratic societies.
He said the Union stressed the strong interdependence between women's empowerment, their decisions on partnership, acknowledgement of their sexual and reproductive rights and the resulting population growth. Education, particularly of girls and women, had a powerful effect on decisions about childbearing and child care, as it enabled real choices to be made about reproduction. Women's participation in economic life should also be promoted. Despite several efforts in that regard, women continued to suffer discrimination and were the first affected by unemployment, especially during crises. Moreover, they still did not receive equal pay for equal work or work of equal value. Compatibility between participation in the labour force and family responsibilities must be evolved. In that respect, the redistribution of tasks between women and men was essential.
The feminization of poverty, disproportionately affecting women, was of deep concern to the Union, he said. The full participation of women in all sectors of society had required a change in attitudes about education, reproductive and sexual health, including family planning, contraception and access to related information. Sexual and reproductive rights and health must be universally ensured in a safe, effective and affordable way. Governments should strive to ensure that, by 2015, at least three more family-planning methods were available. Special attention should be paid to the girl child and to adolescent girls and boys with regard to their rights to sexual education and reproductive health services, given the still high number of adolescent pregnancies. Unsafe practices must be fought and the special needs of adolescents must be addressed, confidentially and safely.
That was especially important given that 33.6 million people were HIV positive, with women disproportionately affected, he said. There were clear gender dimensions to the pandemic, which should be built into the international response to HIV/AIDS. Concerning education, there were approximately 565 million illiterate women, which was nearly twice the number of illiterate men. Illiteracy must be reduced and life-long gender-sensitive learning programmes must be expanded. Modern information communications technology could be used, where appropriate.
Continuing, he said that firmer governmental action was required to enforce laws protecting women against domestic violence, female genital mutilation, and the trafficking of women and girls. With respect to such harmful traditional practices, nothing but a "zero tolerance" policy was acceptable. New types of families also posed new challenges that demanded new approaches to social, labour, and fiscal policies. Stronger efforts were needed to help overcome the intolerance towards those new types of families. That would require the major involvement of all stakeholders: State institutions; civil society; and the private sector. Only a longer-term vision and well conceived strategies and partnerships would ensure full respect for human rights.
HIDEAKI KOBAYASHI (Japan) said the international community had been increasingly challenged to deal successfully with issues that threatened human security on many fronts. The problem of population and development was foremost among those challenges, but could possibly be alleviated through the achievement of womens empowerment and gender equality. That made the current focus on gender relevant and timely.
Turning to Japans domestic efforts in the field of gender, he noted that the Government had adopted a number of measures in response to the trend of that countrys falling fertility rate. If that trend continued, the population was expected to become progressively smaller and aged in the twenty-first century. Among the steps taken were the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society, the reinforcement of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, and the improvement of public child-care support systems. Actions such as those contributed to securing equal treatment for women and men in the area of employment and ensured that women would be more fully able to realize their potential.
He went on to say that Japan had announced its Global Initiative on Population and AIDS. In recognition of the importance of ensuring reproductive health, the Initiative called for a comprehensive approach that included primary health-care for women, primary education and the empowerment of women, in addition to the assistance it provided that was directly related to population and family planning. He also noted the value of the involvement of non-governmental organizations at the grass-roots level in promoting projects aimed at gender equality.
ZHANG YU QUI (China)said that China was the most populated developing country in the world and, therefore, economic development was a crucial link to its further progress. Family planning and gender equality were integral parts of her countrys national development policy. China took the issue of population very seriously and, through many years of family planning, had stabilized its population. That had, in turn, contributed to the stabilization of the worlds population.
Turning to Chinas policies that had promoted the progress of women, she said that her Government had enacted legislation on gender equality and had promoted the involvement of women in political affairs and economic activities. In its attempt to formalize and strengthen its policies, the Government had stipulated that the input of women should supersede national averages. It had also introduced formal action plans to ensure those results.
MARGARET POLLACK (United States) commended the Division's report on world population monitoring and said that, as the report showed, pursuing gender equality and women's empowerment were valuable goals in themselves, and also essential to achieving political, social, economic, cultural and health goals in development. The report also noted the critical milestone of the Cairo Programme of Action, which included a shift from a narrow focus on family planning to a comprehensive reproductive health approach, and an effort to include both women and men in that approach. Since Cairo, her country, along with many others, had reinforced its commitment to programmes where the needs of clients came first and where informed choice and quality of care were guiding principles.
She said that many of the issues cited in the report on population, gender and development, including violence against women, non-consensual marriage, and female genital mutilation, had underscored the importance of integrating gender into all health and development programmes. Women and men were defined differently across and within cultures and, in almost all ways, women were at a disadvantage relative to men, including in the realm of reproductive health.
Those "scripts" that defined human sexuality had changed in many countries over the last four decades, but those should entail more than a quick response, a changed law, or a "gender equality" project. Policy and legal change were important, but so were grass-roots efforts, community mobilization and decentralization of the planning process to include women.
One encouraging step towards gender equality, she said, was the recent effort by family-planning and reproductive health programmes to reorient their services to include men. An analysis of gender roles in many countries supported the view that men were the gatekeepers to women's reproductive health. Lack of information, as well as gender and cultural norms, might prevent women from using family planning, accessing essential obstetric care, and protecting themselves against sexually transmitted disease. In addition, the invisibility of men and boys in terms of service provision and information had made it difficult for them to meet their own reproductive health needs.
She said that the issue of "son preference" in certain parts of the world, namely, in South-East Asia and in China, had had a devastating effect on girls' health and status, and even on male-female population ratios. That issue deserved more attention internationally and a collective commitment from all to ensure its eradication. The early age of marriage and the fact that the legal marriage age was often lower for women than for men had required renewed efforts that went beyond the legal realm to create real social change for young women. Concerning gender-based violence, a long-term and sustained commitment was required in order to combat that "shocking norm" and begin to seriously address the cultural, social and legal environment that gave rise to and condoned widespread violence against women.
Nearly half of those infected with HIV were women and, in Africa, HIV- infected women outnumbered men, she went on. Progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS would continue to be limited without improvement in gender equality, improved information and education, better delivery of related services and the development of new technologies. Similarly, there were many important issues related to ageing. In many countries, frail older people relied mainly on family members for care, and that care was often provided by a female family member. Second, older people often provided support -- financial, material, or physical -- to their children and grandchildren that was vital to the functioning of families. That phenomenon deserved further analysis and policy recommendations.
* *** *