This year, we mark a century of women as agents of change
to improve their lives, communities and health.
Over the past 100 years, many advances have improved the
health of women and girls. Examples include: social and legal reforms
regarding the minimum age of marriage and sexual consent; access to safe
abortion services (where legal), contraception, mammograms and other health
technologies; and progress towards ending harmful practices such as sexual
and gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation.
But the health of women involves much more than
reproduction and many diseases manifest themselves and are treated
differently in women. Women scientists, clinicians, advocates and women’s
health researchers have strengthened medical knowledge and practice of many
common conditions, including cardiovascular disease - now one of the top 10
causes of female deaths across the world.
Women did not do these things alone - but these things
could not have been achieved without women and girls taking matters into
their own hands.
Yes, there is much to celebrate on this 100th
anniversary. But we are also faced with challenges. Maternal mortality rates
and HIV rates among young women are still too high, tobacco consumption
among women is increasing, sexual and other forms of gender-based violence
continue to be widespread, and there is an increasingly heavy burden of
noncommunicable diseases on women.
The theme this year, “Equal access to education, training
and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women”, focuses on
some basic determinants of women’s health. The direct and indirect ways that
gender inequality prevents women of all ages from realizing their human
right to health requires action now.
Education and training equip girls and women with skills
needed to protect their health but social norms deny many the chance to
attend and complete primary and secondary levels of education. This
negatively affects fertility and smoking rates and HIV prevention, and is
associated with increased risk of experiencing sexual and other forms of
gender based violence.
Access to science and technology empowers women to take
control of their health and enables women and girls to participate in
specialized training and educational programs. With such training, women and
girls benefit from innovative health campaigns often disseminated through
online or mobile phone technology. If we are going to be innovative with
health strategies, we must make sure that women and girls are not left
behind because they do not know how to use them or do not have access to
them.
Involving women in health research and technology
development ensures that medical advances do not jeopardize their health and
ensures equal benefits from these advances. This requires women’s informed
participation in clinical trials, as well as data from all health research
disaggregated by sex, at the very least.
When women benefit from decent work conditions they are
more likely to benefit from social protection measures such as
employer-based health insurance, maternity benefits, occupational health and
safety measures - all factors that improve access to health care and health
outcomes.
In sum, when women and girls do not have equal access to
these determinants of health, education, employment and health systems have
failed them. It is time we stop failing women and girls.
Today, let us take the time to celebrate achievements
made for and by women over the past century. Let us also move forward to
address critical gaps, building on lessons learned since the first
International Women’s Day, to realize the full potential of women and girls
the world over.
Dr Margaret Chan
