Bjorn Andersson, Regional Director, UNFPA Asia-Pacific (Source: UNFPA)Andersson’s article, titled “Genderequality and women’s empowerment today for a sustainable tomorrow,” was writtenon the occasion of International Women’s Day.
Following is the full text of the article.
“As the world continues to battle andrecover from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and governments look to institutepolicies to build back better and greener, we are at the same time affected byanother global crisis – climate change – and the impact it has on women’shealth, rights and equality.
Climate change is a multiplier ofpre-existing forms of vulnerabilities and inequalities, including genderinequalities, often resulting in negative impacts for women and girls. Between2010 and 2020, Asia and the Pacific accounted for three-quarters of the 122million people that were affected by disasters. With Asia-Pacific being themost disaster-prone region in the world, we cannot ignore the disproportionateeffects of climate change on women and girls.
Gender-based violence and harmfulpractices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation, increaseamong climate-affected populations. Climate-related emergencies also causemajor disruptions in access to essential sexual and reproductive health servicesand life-saving medicines, including for maternal health care, contributing toa higher risk of maternal and newborn deaths.
Forty-three year old Adelina from Dinagat,the Philippines, illustrates how climate change affects women as they seekmaternal health care. Adelina was pregnant with her sixth child when recentlySuper Typhoon Odette made landfall, badly damaging the nearest medical unit andleaving her with no choice but to take a difficult two hour boat ride to givebirth in a hospital in a nearby city.
There is a critical role that allstakeholders have in ensuring that climate adaptation, and disasterpreparedness, response and early recovery efforts are climate-resilient andmore inclusive. This will ensure that women have access to sexual and reproductiveservices and information, including maternal health, family planning, andprotection services. This in turn will empower women and girls to protect theirrights, make choices and realize their potential, as well as strengthen climatechange-affected communities’ ability to adapt.
During the Fourth World Conference held inBeijing in 1995, the global community agreed to promote an active and visiblepolicy of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes.More than 25 years later, we see that progress towards achieving genderequality and women’s empowerment has been slow. For this reason, UNFPA and itspartners are stepping up their efforts to reverse this worrying trend andachieve universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health andrights for all.
As women remain on the frontlines of thepandemic and climate crisis, whether as health professionals, communityleaders, educators or unpaid care providers, there is an urgent need to buildthe resilience of women and girls in every society at all levels to combat anycrisis and ensure their access to sexual and reproductive health services andinformation.
When floods badly affected the Rohingyarefugee camps last year in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, midwife Shakila Parvin wasquick to provide support on the ground in delivering sexual and reproductivehealth services. She also provided mental health support to families,reassuring them of the health and safety of mother and newborn after emergencydeliveries.
The 1994 International Conference onPopulation and Development Programme of Action called for making the rights ofwomen and their reproductive health a central topic in national andinternational economic and political development efforts. Yet, while it is essentialto achieve bodily autonomy for all people, only 55 percent of girls and womenaged 15-49 who are married or in unions say they can make their own decisionsabout sexual and reproductive health and rights by deciding about healthcare,contraception and their own sexual practices.
In order to ensure a better and moresustainable future for all, it is of critical importance to acceleratetransformational progress including through maternal health and family planningservices, increased sexual and reproductive health-related decision-making, andby strengthening policies, organisations, and feminist and youth networks topromote and protect these issues to build resilient societies, especially inthe context of climate change.
To facilitate this, UNFPA, the UnitedNations sexual and reproductive health agency, is working to deliver a worldwhere women can lead in ensuring a sustainable future. On the occasion ofInternational Women’s Day, UNFPA calls on all governments to join its effortsand invest in achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health andrights for all, including by ensuring the meaningful participation of women andgirls in climate action by shifting and sharing power with excluded groups andpeople – and promoting gender parity in all decision-making spaces./.
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