New Report Calls for World Leaders to End Discrimination and Live Up to Promises Made to World’s Women and Girls

SANA’A, 15 October 2005—Global efforts to “make poverty history” will fail unless world leaders act now to end gender discrimination, according to The State of World Population 2005 report, released today by UNFPA Yemen.

The report, “The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals”, calls upon world leaders to fulfill promises made to the world’s women and young people in order to meet poverty reduction goals agreed to at the 2000 Millennium Summit and reaffirmed by last month’s World Summit in New York. Investing in women and young people—who constitute the majority of the world’s population—will accelerate long-term development. Failure to do so may entrench poverty for generations to come.

“We will not make poverty history until we make gender discrimination history”, said UNFPA Representative Hans Obdeijn during the launching of the report today. “We cannot make poverty history until we stop violence against women and girls. We cannot make poverty history until women enjoy their full social, cultural, economic and political rights.”

The Minister of Public Health and Population, Deputy Chairman, Prof. Mohammed A –Noami, said, in line with the report: “Yemen is committed to engaging women the development of our country. Investing in women and girls makes sound economic and social sense. This is because discrimination leads to lower productivity and higher health costs. It also results in higher death rates among mothers and children and significantly threatens efforts to reduce poverty”

Nevertheless, despite new laws and programmes to improve the condition of impoverished women, the pace of change is far too slow. Intimately associated with poverty is lack of access to family planning and reproductive health. While Yemen is working to close gender gaps in education and improve health-care access for women and adolescents, statistics continue to tell a troubling tale.

Today, the population of Yemen at almost 20 million and is expected to reach approximately 45 million in 2050. This projection is predicated on whether men and women will continue to have the means to decide when and how often to have children.

The biggest threat to the lives of women between the ages of 15-45 in Yemen is pregnancy and childbirth. Every year 365 per 100.00 women die in Yemen from pregnancy-related causes. These deaths are preventable if access to reproductive health services and modern contraceptives are more widely available in rural as well and urban areas.

Investing in political, economic and educational opportunities for women and girls, on the other hand, yields quick wins and high pay-offs that lead to improved economic prospects, smaller families, healthier and more literate children, lower HIV prevalence rates and reduced incidence of harmful traditional practices. Furthermore, studies show that when women control the family purse strings, they are more likely than men to invest a higher percentage of their earnings in family needs.

Reaching the gender equity goal requires men’s involvement. UNFPA’s work in the field shows that men are valuable allies in striving for changed practices, while seeking to increase men’s understanding and participatory role in promoting gender equity, equality and women empowerment.

Increasingly, governments in the Arab region have proceeded to redefine national population and development policies and strategies in light of the goals articulated in the ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo 1994) and the Millennium Development Goals. These goals provide challenges and opportunities for governments, as they incorporate strategies on reproductive health, gender equality and poverty reduction into national policies.

“And I can assure you that women all over the world are tired of promises, promises, promises,” said Ms. Thoraya Obaid, the Executive Director of UNFPA, at the launching of the Report in London. “The time has come; we have the means, we have the commitment. Now we need action.”
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UNFPA is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.