Women and Gender Issues
State of World Population 2024
Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope - Ending Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
This year's report takes the 30th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development as an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come in achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. While the report celebrates the significant gains made it also considers who has been left out of that progress arguing that a more equitable future for all requires a renewed commitment to empowering those furthest behind.
Women are the thread
In an ideal world the advancement of women’s reproductive rights and the promotion of equitable access to sexual and reproductive health and rights would be inherently motivated by the principles of human rights and social justice. But real-world sociopolitical contexts often demand quantifiable arguments on the short-term and long-term returns on investments in such programmes. Indeed this was understood to be the case in 1994. Though the ICPD Programme of Action represented a monumental pivot away from population control policies and towards prioritizing the rights of all individuals the economic rationale nevertheless remained critical for justifying investments in these rights.
Counting every stitch
The 1994 ICPD and its resulting Programme of Action not only represented a moment of remarkable consensus around the value of universal sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights (Brown and others 2019; Sen and others 2019; Corrêa and others 2015) it also represented a powerful call for better and more transparent data – a contribution to global standards that has seldom been recognized. In fact an entire chapter of the Programme of Action Chapter XII (UNFPA 1994) is devoted to the need for “valid reliable timely culturally relevant internationally comparable data” including “gender and ethnicity-specific information”. It also called for research into the views of less-empowered groups of people and those in different cultural settings.
A work in progress
A safe birth. A choice of contraceptives. Protection from gender-based violence. More people than ever before have realized these essential life-sustaining rights. But the number of people denied these rights has not yet reached zero – as it can and as it must.
Technical notes
The statistical tables in State of World Population 2024 include indicators that track progress towards the goals of the Framework of Actions for the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of maternal health access to education and reproductive and sexual health. In addition these tables include a variety of demographic indicators. The statistical tables support UNFPA’s focus on progress and results towards delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted every birth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.
Unravelling inequality
The ICPD Programme of Action emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War a time of upheaval and uncertainty. That year 1994 saw both the end of apartheid in South Africa which held its first multiracial democratic election in April and the eruption of genocide in Rwanda that same month. Sweden legalized civil unions between same-sex partners – making it the third country ever to do so – as the global rate of new HIV infections was reaching its highest-ever peak (UNAIDS n.d.). The promise of collective action and the perils of failing to take such action could not have been more prominent in the minds of ICPD attendees in Cairo.
Foreword
Thirty years ago governments around the world agreed that reproductive health and rights are foundation stones of global development – a groundbreaking consensus that paved the way for decades of progress. Since then the global rate of unintended pregnancies has fallen by nearly 20 per cent globally. The number of women using modern contraceptive methods has doubled. Today at least 162 countries have adopted laws against domestic violence and maternal deaths have decreased by 34 per cent since 2000.
Weaving a collective future
“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together.” These were the words of Lilla Watson an indigenous activist from Australia at the 1985 United Nations Decade for Women Conference in Nairobi.
The seaweed value chain through a gender lens: A gender inclusive value chain?
The role of women is key to achieving sustainable growth in the seaweed sector. The food security-gender nexus in the seaweed industry is critical considering that women constitute a disproportionately large percentage of the people engaged in the informal lowest paid least stable and least skilled segments of the workforce. In aquaculture women comprise 28 per cent of the workforce within the primary sector; within fisheries this figure is 18 per cent. Spanning both the pre- and post-harvest stages of the value chain their participation reaches an estimated 50 per cent (FAO 2022). Beyond their pivotal role in coastal rural economies women play a substantial part in ensuring household food security and nutritional wellbeing all the while managing domestic and caregiving responsibilities.
An Ocean of Opportunities: The Potential of Seaweed to Advance Food, Environmental and Gender Dimensions of the SDGs
This study aims to enhance our comprehension of the seaweed sector as a tripartite vector for economic growth environmental sustainability and women’s economic empowerment. It builds upon the outcomes of the 4th United Nations Oceans Forum (UNOF) the 2023 Trade and Environment Review (TER) and expert interviews to present the interlinkages of the seaweed sector with food and nutrition environmental and climate goals. The study adopts a gender lens paying attention to women’s participation throughout the seaweed value chain. Seaweed’s growing popularity offers potential to increase economic income food security preserve marine biodiversity and empower women along the value chains. Seaweed farming and processing demonstrate how development climate and nature can work together to generate value that uplifts coastal communities including women and Indigenous Peoples. Seaweed has multiple uses including for food nutraceuticals cosmetics pharmaceuticals aquatic animal or livestock feed biofertilizer textiles and biofuels. It can also be used for producing fully biodegradable and compostable biomass for non-plastics substitute and plastic alternatives.
Introduction
Within a sustainable ocean economy seaweed collection culture processing and trade is one of the sectors with the most opportunities to achieve sustainable growth by 2030 (UNCTAD 2023a). Seaweed farming culture is closely linked to food security income livelihoods and traditional knowledge of rural coastal communities particularly for women and Indigenous Peoples. The value of the seaweed sector remains mostly underappreciated and untapped while it shows clear growth potential beyond its current markets (World Bank 2023a).
Executive summary
This study aims to enhance our comprehension of the seaweed sector as a tripartite vector for economic growth environmental sustainability and women’s economic empowerment. It builds upon the outcomes of the 4th United Nations Oceans Forum (UNOF) the 2023 Trade and Environment Review (TER) and expert interviews to present the interlinkages of the seaweed sector (production market trade) with food and nutrition environmental and climate goals. The study adopts a gender lens paying attention to women’s participation throughout the seaweed value chain.
What is seaweed and why does it represent a new sustainable ocean economic opportunity?
Seaweed as a marine macroalgae can be classified into three taxonomic groups: brown red and green. Their contributions to sustainability range from generating sustainable livelihoods for small-scale farmers and harvesters to potentially playing an important role in mitigating climate change. Several case studies have shown how the seaweed sector has been a key driver of women’s empowerment in ocean communities (World Bank 2023a). Seaweed production requires less resources and production inputs and its export faces lower barriers to market entry than traditional fisheries. However seaweed is often amalgamated with fisheries and other aquaculture activities thus not yet fully recognized as a distinct sector. That can lead to underestimating its importance for economic development especially for women.