Choice Voice and Autonomy: Women’s political leadership for health in a fragile world

The live web event was chaired by Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, PMNCH Board Chair and Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and featured discussion from global policy makers, government representatives, youth representatives and global health experts in the context of the halfway point on assessing progress on Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality. 

The event was hosted by the Government of Estonia, and organized by PMNCH, Women in Global Health, UHC2030 and Global Health 50/50. 

Speakers examined the roll-back on progress for women in decision-making roles since the start of the pandemic two years ago. Instead of working towards closing the gender equity gap, concerns were raised about the reversals on women’s fundamental rights and health. UN Women statistics on SDG 5 reveal that one in 15 countries are far from meeting their targets. 

Just one of the sub goals of SDG is on track: better representation of women at local government level, which stands at 36 per cent. 

They also addressed the root causes of the systemic barriers to women’s professional advancement and how it was necessary to tackle those barriers for progress, including learning poverty for girls. A clear gap is the allocation of funding for gender equity issues at national level and global level. Also bold political leadership on protecting women’s bodily autonomy and reproductive rights in the wake of the ruling on Roe v Wade in the US. 

There are grounds for hope with positive momentum on women leadership worldwide, and reason to celebrate women’s influence in decision-making, but we need to go further for transformative action. Women must not only have equal participation at decision-making level, they need equal opportunity in the selection of leadership positions in the first place. Currently, women hold just 25 per cent of leadership positions, despite making up 90 per cent of the frontline workforce and 70 per cent of the health and care workforce overall.

A summary of the points made are detailed below by speaker:

H.E. Kersti Kaljulaid

• Women, although 50% of the population, are not the ones making the decisions for essentially what is half of the population
• Although it may seem like the issues and the crises that women face are limited to those living in less developed countries, it affects the lives of women everywhere and in every level of development, for example: job losses, exposure to violence
• Women in all stages of the corporate ladder and walks of life feel like they’re not heard. To dismantle this, it starts as acknowledgement and increasing access to choices  and opportunities

Anita Bhatia, Deputy Executive Director, UN Women;  

• UN Women statistics on SDG 5 reveal that  1/15 countries are far from meeting SDG 5. Only one of the subgoals of SDG 5 is on track: Better representation at local government level (36%) 
• We need more bold political and legislative action especially regarding women’s autonomy and body rights. Governments have not been mindful when creating economic stimulus packages; UN women has determined that the recent government stimulus packages have had very little focus on gender equality 
• Learning poverty is the third biggest problem girls currently face. We need to close this learning gap so we don’t hinder the growth of an entire generation 
•  All in all, we need to allocate funding towards gender equality

Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Co-Chair, UHC2030 Steering Committee, Honorary President of IPU; 

• Some 36 per cent of women in parliamentary positions around the world are uniquely placedto push issues regarding UHC and focus on gender equality issues 
• We need to prioritize public spending on health and especially gender specific issues such as reproductive health 
• The healthcare system affects society beyond health. It’s a symbiotic relationship All SDG goals benefit when healthcare investment is prioritized. Women leaders can integrate healthcare in all sectors and UHC should be prioritized in all levels of the government so that no one is left behind. The idea of “stronger together” is important, stakeholders and communities and governments should work together to implement UHC 
• The safety of women health workers is important as well and governments should focus on creating safe working conditions for women healthcare workers everywhere.

Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 

• We need to focus on preventing the roll back on women’s rights, especially on sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) following the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v Wade to prevent this from happening on a global scale 
• We need clear national action plans that protect women first and foremost and help those who need access to fundamental care like abortion. We need to keep SRHR at the center of the discussion and LGBTQ rights as well 
• In the wake of the decision by the US Supreme Court, family planning and maternal health and violence against women funding has NOT been cut, unlike before. The ruling does not affect the US position on women’s sexual health globally in foreign aid

Moira Forbes, Executive Vice President, Forbes;  

• Women have the power to move the world today; where is the power of women in the world today? Is it in peril? Some promising signs: female leaders are at the forefront of some critical areas of the pandemic response, there is more momentum for female political leadership than ever before
• Although the proportion of women at the top in apex positions has been minimal, Forbes reports a larger movement of women trying to break ranks and find new pathways to the top that did not exist 
• Women’s influence is being leveraged in more areas than we’ve ever seen before: if we were to change the definition of power from just “hard power” which is political and economic influence, we would find that women leaders are extremely influential in positions of power and there is not really a void

Mohamed Ali Raddaoui (Dali), Founder, NAFAS, National Gender Youth Activist in the Generation Equality campaign, Tunisia 

• We need male allies: how can young males support young women in leadership roles? Young men should try to build bridges with women starting with self awareness and understanding that males have cis male privilege inherent in patriarchy norms. No one is free unless everyone is free.
• The activism of youth is prevented by visa barriers which hinder the global effort of women to lobby and collaborate with others internationally, it is the no one hinderance to mobility and collaboration for international feminist youth organizations 
• What is feminism? In my view, it’s a response to patriarchy and it affects not just one sector of society (women) but by working with the feminist movement, it positively affects everyone as patriarchy is malicious to everyone

Diene Keita, Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA

• We need to speak up and “walk the talk”.  In rural areas, in particular, women and girls are left extremely vulnerable during the rainy season as their shelter is being threatened and flooded, and the same goes for areas that are affected by drought. Gender and climate change are so deeply interconnected in every aspect 
• Money “costs” a lot. We need to invest it well: by focusing on putting kids in school and keeping them in school, it will save the government money. We need to continue the talk in order to move forward and continue exactly what we’re doing even regardless of all economic and climate turmoil. Equity is more important than ever 

Remarks by Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa were delivered by Edlam Abera Yemeru, Director for the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa  

• Even through these crises, women continue to lead and solve problems on the frontlines in all levels of society, we need to celebrate this
• It’s time to revisit legislation and quotas and how effective it is in moving forward women’s leadership in the world, progress must be looked at ALL levels, not at the top 
• Where are women in the global health sector? We need to mobilize women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders and enable them to benefit from the sector 
• We need to continue to be vocal about including women in financial equality and include them in this discussion