True equality for women: Still a long way to go

We have come a long way from the days when people believed the Earth was flat. We have now managed to take a “portrait” of Mars and plan to visit the planet one day. We have replaced people with robots in industry and discovered vaccines and cures for many fatal diseases. Nevertheless, such advancements in science, medicine and technology do not fully contribute to the wellbeing of women and girls around the world. Every day 1,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, and most these death are preventable.

A recent conference on the wellbeing and health of women and girls, “Women Deliver 2013”, held in Kuala Lumpur, was a good platform to remind us all that we still have a long way to go if we are to achieve equality for women. Philanthropists, health advocates and NGO workers addressed the same set of problems that women and girls around the world have been facing for decades. A World Bank survey has revealed that nearly four in 10 married women have no say in their own health care. Globally, more than one-third of girls are married before their 18th birthday, and one in nine girls in the developing world are married by age 15. Reproductive rights are not fully honoured in many parts of the world, even though these rights are proven to be directly linked to the wellbeing of women.

Ironically, the delegates in Kuala Lumpur heard sad news during the conference: the highest court in El Salvador denied an abortion to Beatriz, a 22-year-old woman with a pregnancy that is so high-risk that doctors say it could kill her. Beatriz’s doctors say the abortion is necessary to save her life. But the Salvadoran judges ruled to uphold the country’s absolute ban on abortion, saying that her rights “cannot be privileged over those” of the foetus. The case confirms that women are still denied their rights, even when the situation is a matter of life and death.

In Malaysia, where the conference took place, there was outrage after a 40-year-old man charged with raping a 13-year-old girl married her in an attempt to escape being charged and punished. Female activists and their supporters pressed on with a statutory-rape charge against the perpetrator, saying marriage cannot be justified to absolve a perpetrator from guilt in sex crimes committed against children. The case in Malaysia is a good example of these problems not being limited to poor and underdeveloped countries.

The decade’s biggest conference on women has brought at least one conclusion: that we have a two-pronged battle on basic rights for women and their wellbeing. The two issues are interrelated. Although the world has moved from the industrial to the digital age, many young girls in Asia and Africa still suffer the brutality of “female circumcision”. In certain societies, proponents of this form of genital mutilation say girls must undergo it or else no man would marry them, since they would be considered “unclean”.

Sad and uninspiring stories were told at the conference about the plight of women around the world, but the thousands in attendance remained optimistic about the future. As long as there is hope for improvement, like a decline in maternal mortality rates, they will continue their efforts. Philanthropist Melinda Gates called for everyone to support women’s rights. “Real progress can only be achieved when everyone gets involved,” she said. Healthcare professionals and women advocates echoed the call. The World Bank says these issues are directly linked to the health of the global economy.

The conference succeeded in identifying the problems, but there are barriers that everyone knows about, and great effort will be required to overcome all the challenges. Organisations from the likes of the Gates Foundation to small NGOs like Girls No Bride are in the forefront, working to improve the lot of women and girls everywhere. The next step is even more challenging: how to make men, religious leaders and governments realise the scale of the problem and support the effort to change attitudes? Only when everyone in society is aware that they are part of equation, the task may be made easier.