Ipas > Putting equality first on World Population Day

Putting equality first on World Population Day

July 11, 2005

Women who can plan and space their children are better able to participate in economic activities, thereby benefiting themselves, their families and their communities.

Photo courtesy of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The theme of this year's World Population Day, Equality Empowers, places women's equality at the core of efforts to address population issues. When women have an equal opportunity to protect their health and exercise their human rights, families become healthier, communities prosper and the entire global community benefits.

Central to gender equality are reproductive health and rights—such as the right to decide whether and when to have children—which in turn impact women's ability to exercise their human rights to education, health and full participation in political, economic, social and cultural life.

The connection between reproductive rights and human rights was first recognized on the international stage at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, where governments agreed to a new approach to population issues that emphasized empowering individuals to improve their lives rather than setting demographic targets. For their part, the 179 countries signed on to the ICPD Programme of Action agreed that meeting the meeting people's reproductive-health needs, particularly those of girls and women, should be a global priority.

The urgency of this need was echoed by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in a statement released on this year's World Population Day: “Today, poor sexual and reproductive health is a leading cause of death and illness for women in the developing world. No other area of health reflects the large inequities between rich and poor, both among and within countries.”

In addition to reproductive health and rights, the other main areas for action related to gender equality highlighted on World Population Day 2005 are:

Education: Investment in girls' education is generally acknowledged as the single-most important catalyst for poverty reduction and development.
Economic opportunity: Women who can plan and space their children are better able to participate in economic activities, thereby benefiting themselves, their families and their communities.
Participation: Women must be empowered to participate fully in the decisionmaking processes if development efforts are to succeed.

World Population Day was inaugurated in 1988 by UNFPA to commemorate the day the world's population reached five billion, July 11, 1987. Now, 18 years and 1.5 billion people later, World Population Day continues to draw attention to the urgency and importance of addressing inequality and promoting sustainable development around the world.

529,000: Number of women in the developing world dying needlessly from pregnancy-related causes each year
32: Percentage of death and disability due to poor sexual and reproductive health among women of reproductive age worldwide
$1 (US): Cost of a birthing kit which can save a woman's life
$34,000,000 (US): Contribution withheld from UNFPA by the U.S. government annually since 2002
120,000,000: Number of couples that would like to plan their families, but do not have access to contraception

Source: Interact Worldwide. 2005. 2004: A year in review. Available online.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258