Women deliver enormous social

and economic benefits for their

families, communities, and
nations. Investing in girls and
women is critical to achieving
sustainable global development
and poverty reduction goals.
WOMEN DELIVER
INVEST IN GIRLS AND
WOMEN IT PAYS
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of
Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data
included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. Terminology
used may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.

Closing the gap on MDG 5

Progress on MDG 5 has been slow, but is

accelerating
Maternal deaths have been nearly halved but
challenges remain.
222 million women in developing countries have an
unmet need for family planning
Everyday 800 women still die from pregnancy
and/or child birth related complications
Progress largely bypasses the most vulnerable and
marginalized populations

Closing the gap in MDG 5

Maternal mortality is a multifactoral problem

hence need multisectoral solutions

Skilled workforce is the key in developing country
Need access to capital, incentives to serve the poor
and business environment
Increasing engagement with the private sector and
active civil society
Government

Civil Society

Private Sector

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Reproductive health and gender equality are

inextricably linked
Investing in reproductive health is smart economics
Need to understand womens power to give birth
Need to talk more on womens sexuality
Sustainability of world is linked to womens rights
and their right to make choices for no. of children
Post 2015 agenda to be grounded and founded on
rights

Ending Violence Against Women: What,

why and how it can be solved
Violence is manifestation of inequality and

discrimination:
rape, honor killing, child marriage
Sexual violence cross cuts all levels of society
Only legal measures do not work unless social attitudes
and mindsets are changed
Take zero tolerance on all sexual offences
Change in fundamental inequality is important
Womens economic autonomy, agency and social
empowerment can help
Changing mens attitude by education, free from
economic stress and alcohol consumption

Investing in the Womens Movement: Infrastructure

for Social Change for Women and Girls
Movements matter in social transformation
Movements create and support organization building

(e.g., womens collective, federations)

Womens rights movements, comprising many
thousands of organizations, is at the core of creating and
sustaining change for women and girls. Yet support for
these organizations is in danger of eroding as womens
movements do not get funding
How to maintain momentum of movement and sustain
this infrastructure in order to realize the rights of women
and girls
Movements have survived through organizational
structure and organization play critical role when there
is no movement

Post-2015 agenda
Equality for girls and women is a cross-cutting

theme that affects all progress

Achieve universal access to sexual and

reproductive health and rights for everyone if

women can not plan their fertility, they can not
plan their lives
Equity and social justice

Thank you

For more information visit:

www.WOMENDELIVER.ORG