Global Policy Forum

By Sue Leeman

Each year there are eighty million unwanted pregnancies and 20 million unsafe abortions. Millions of beatings and rapes. Infanticides and so-called "honor" killings. This is what the world's women endure, despite major changes at the end of the 20th century, according to a U.N. report published Wednesday.

The report by the U.N. Population Fund said discrimination and violence against women "remain firmly rooted in cultures around the world," stopping many from reaching their full potential. "Passed down from one generation to the next, ideas about 'real men' and 'a woman's place' are instilled at an early age and are difficult to change," the report said.

The "State of World Population Report 2000" said girls and women all over the world are routinely denied access to education and health care -- including control over their reproductive activity -- and to equal pay and legal rights. The report points out that governments last year agreed to targets that include halving the 1990 illiteracy rate for women and girls by 2005, meeting the need for family planning by 2015, reducing youth HIV levels by one quarter by the year 2010, and ensuring that skilled attendants assist 90 percent of all births by 2015.

Providing family planning is a particularly significant challenge, said the report, compiled from sources that include U.N. agencies, the World Health Organization, World Bank, national governments and surveys. About one-third of all pregnancies -- 80 million a year -- are believed to be unwanted or poorly timed.

In developing countries, 53 percent of all births are attended by professionals, translating into "the neglect of 52.4 million women annually." Nearly 30 percent of women who give birth in developing countries -- some 38 million a year -- receive no care after the birth. Each year, the report said, women undergo an estimated 50 million abortions, 20 million of which are unsafe, resulting in the deaths of 78,000 women and the suffering of millions more.

The report added that at least one in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some way. One in four is abused during pregnancy. At least 60 million girls, mostly in Asia, are listed as "missing," as a result of infanticide, neglect or other factors and "as many as 5,000 women and girls are murdered each year in so-called 'honor' killings by members of their own families." In addition, the report said, some 2 million girls aged 5-15 join the sex trade each year.

Despite this, countries have paid only $2.1 billion of the $5.7 billion per year that they agreed is needed for reproductive health and population programs, the report said. But there has been some progress, the report said.

In India, male health workers have motivated other men to take an interest in women's health and help with housework. In Mali, men's involvement in reproductive health has led to support for women's employment. In Nicaragua, courses on gender and power have reduced violence against women. Mexico and Peru have passed laws to increase access to reproductive health services and the Portuguese government now guarantees access to family planning.

Botswana, China, Colombia, the United Kingdom and Vietnam have increased penalties for various sexual offenses and Bolivia no longer requires that a woman be found "honest" to be considered the victim of a sexual offense. Germany has criminalized rape by a husband against a wife.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.