United Nations report overview and key findings

UN Report Women

Making a Better World Through treating Women Better: An Analysis of the UN's 2000 State of the World's Population report

The UN's State of the World Population Report from the year 2000, titled Lives Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of Change, focuses on the under-appreciation of women, and the lack of support and equality they receive in many countries around the world. This is quickly recognized not merely as a problem of equality and social justice, but also one of very practical concerns in the developing world. Two examples provided only in the introduction of the report of the problems centrality to issues of economic development are those of Kenya and Latin America. In the former, if the same amount of aid and support were given to female farmers as it is to their male counterparts, farms there could increase production by a full twenty-percent. An only somewhat less-impressive figure is given for Latin America, where it is estimated that a five-percent increase in national production could be achieved by bring in women's wages in line with what men earn in the region (6). This is just the beginning of the possible change, however.

The need for change is made readily apparent by the details contained in the report. Though the connection between rates of illness and abuse among women and the rate of early deaths in the gender is not explicitly made in the report, it seems reasonable to assume that abuse and illness account for a large portion of these early deaths. The report makes it quite clear that there are numerous issues that cause women to face illness needlessly -- often as a direct or indirect result of abuse -- and that treatment is also provided along gender-biased lines. This further damages productivity, in addition to constituting a human rights violation.

Though change is coming, it is questionable whether it is coming fast enough. Even the signs of encouragement to be found in the UN report are scanty relief; it is noted, for instance, that "reproductive rights are guaranteed in South Africa's Constitution, but their exercise has been restricted by appeals to customary law" -- but not to worry, since "policy makers' attention has been drawn to the need for clarification" (53). The issue is not one that necessarily needs clarifying, but rather direct and massive reform. There are brighter rays of hope, however; the report mentions several countries in diverse regions that have enacted labor reform codes, and other countries have included anti-discrimination articles in their constitutions aimed at granting full political and social equality to women (54-5). The actual effects of these new laws and codes have yet to emerge with as much optimism as that with which they were enacted, however.

At the same time, it cannot be denied that there have been some noticeable positive changes made due to changes in policies and codes in many countries. One of the major changes that has been both a result and a cause of increased equality for women -- and one that directly impacts economic productivity -- is the advent of micro-credit loans. Government support for such loans and the institutions that make them has shifted hugely in terms of finances and policy, according to the report, and programs that promote literacy, family life education and reproductive health as well as business ventures have been effective recipients (59). This type of loan is only achievable due to changes in social policy and general equality in the countries where such loans are having the biggest effects.

The statement, "the UN report is an attempt to underscore what the costs of inequality are, what has kept it in place in the past and what's being done to address it now," is a tacit way of reminding readers that these problems are not new and should not be surprising to anyone moderately apprised of world conditions. The fact that the report is meant to "underscore" these issues is a testament to the ongoing nature of the problems. It also reflects the incomplete nature of the reports information; despite its extensiveness, there are undoubtedly many specific issues in specific countries that want uncovered. Likewise, efforts to establish equality and healthier conditions for women worldwide should not be limited to the methods established in the report, and the latter portion of the statement explicitly establishes that this report only comments on current solutions.