Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

6 Executive summary
Sexual and
reproductive
health and
rights are
central to
women’s ability
to build their
capabilities
For all these reasons the task force believes that achieving Goal 3 requires
strengthening postprimary education opportunities for girls and that this can
be achieved without wavering from the global commitments to universal primary
education.
A number of interventions that have proven effective for increasing girls’
participation in primary school may also apply to postprimary education.
These include making schooling more affordable by reducing costs and offering
targeted scholarships, building secondary schools close to girls’ homes, and
making schools girl-friendly. Additionally, the content, quality, and relevance
of education must be improved through curriculum reform, teacher training,
and other actions. Education must serve as the vehicle for transforming attitudes,
beliefs, and entrenched social norms that perpetuate discrimination and
inequality. All interventions taken to promote gender equality in education
must, therefore, be transformational in nature.
Strategic priority 2: guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights
Goal 3 cannot be achieved without the guarantee of sexual and reproductive
health and rights for girls and women. A large body of evidence shows that
sexual and reproductive health and rights are central to women’s ability to
build their capabilities, take advantage of economic and political opportunities,
and control their destinies. Conversely, gender inequality that restricts
women’s access to economic resources compromises their sexual and reproductive
autonomy. For this reason, the task force has identified guaranteeing
sexual and reproductive health and rights as a strategic priority for achieving
gender equality and empowering women.
Maternal mortality rates are high, particularly in developing countries where
women’s chances of dying from pregnancy-related complications are almost 50
times greater than in developed countries. Women’s unmet need for contraception
is also high. One-fifth of married women in the Middle East and North
Africa and one-quarter of married women in Sub-Saharan Africa are unable to
access the contraception they need. Iron-deficiency anemia is also widespread,
affecting 50–70 percent of pregnant women in developing countries. Severe
anemia has been shown to be associated with postpartum hemorrhage and is
thought to be an underlying factor in maternal mortality. Women are also more
vulnerable than men to sexually transmitted infections, particularly HIV/AIDS.
Today, almost 50 percent of the HIV-infected adults worldwide are women, and
in Sub-Saharan Africa, that proportion is 57 percent.
Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to a range of sexual and reproductive
health problems. In Sub-Saharan Africa about 75 percent of those ages
15–24 who are infected with HIV are women. Many sexually active adolescents
do not use contraception. Of the roughly 260 million women ages 15–19 worldwide,
both married and unmarried, about 11 percent (29 million) are sexually
active and do not want to become pregnant but are not using a modern method