Demographics and Human Resources

Global Challenges excerpt from the 2010 State of the Future report

This section includes the actions that have been suggested to address the following challenges:

Population

How can population growth and resources be brought into balance? [Challenge 3]

Health

What can the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune microorganisms be reduced? [Challenge 8]

Status of Women

How can the status of women help improve the human condition? [Challenge 11]


Population and Resources

How can population growth and resources be brought into balance? [Challenge 3]

SUGGESTED ACTIONS TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGE WITH A RANGE OF VIEWS

These actions were distilled from suggestion made by the Millennium Project experts' panel. Following each action are comments and suggestions from Millennium Project participants through interviews, web page, and other collaborations. Generally, each paragraph comes from another source/participant; hence, there might be some inconsistencies in the views expressed.

3.1 Governments and corporations should encourage research and development of new long-term male and female contraceptives.

Clinical trials for a male contraceptive patch is being done. Dr. Christina Wang, Professor at Harbor-UCLA Research & Education Institute says she believes that the male contraceptive patch could be as effective as the pill is for women, while some scientist warns about potential side effect of hormones.

The contraceptives should be 100% foolproof. Even a low probability of failure affects the credibility of the system. To achieve greatest efficiency, contraceptive methods have to be compatible with local cultural and religious beliefs. Both women and men have to be educated to accept this.

Governments should create and implement effective policy in parallel with this research.... Policies that focus on artificial methods contradict some religious views, and in the commercial world, concern about liability is a huge impediment. In this case, liability laws would have to be reformed.... What is needed is increased awareness of the "morning-after" pill, which has been in use for many years.

Presently, some religious groups still oppose this type of pill, calling it an abortifacient. However, scientifically it has been shown that it prevents implantation in the uterus, preventing pregnancy rather than interrupting it.... Making economic conditions appropriate for investment and for new technology and improving the standard of living are the more effective methods for the reduction of birth rates than improved contraceptives.

3.2. Governments, with some leadership also from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and corporations, should encourage development of high-yield, sustainable agriculture, particularly through biotechnology.

This has become more acceptable in China and India, but not in Europe. African farmers are also reluctant to use biotechnology as main consumers of their products are Europeans and they do not like genetically modified crops. Worldwide, there is greater public acceptance of biotechnology for medicines than for foods. Biotechnology for food will be more acceptable when people look more carefully at the cost/effect ratio of it. Many regions lack arable land and should seek new sources of food, such as from the sea. Water takes up 71% of the world's surface, and the potential production from the sea is very high - both in the ocean and on desert costal lands using seawater for salt-tolerant plants that are either created by genetic engineering or by domesticating wild salt-tolerant plants. Industrialized production of algae in arid areas is another effective measure to solve the food problem.

This action will be more effective than 2.1.1: science and technology can feed the world.... To decrease grain loss, we need proper packaging soon after harvest. We also need mariculture (farming of saltwater organisms either at sea or on land). There's some 20% loss that could be saved with hermetically sealed bags (that protect against rodents and rotting.)

A change of a single gene in foods can cure vitamin A deficiencies worldwide.

Improvements in post-harvest transportation and storage could make a significant increase in food security.

3.3 NGOs, with some leadership from governments, should increase social marketing programs that teach family planning. 

Focus on men, as well as women, and the community as a whole. Village leaders should be involved..... Social marketing should also include reproductive health, nutrition, and child and maternal survival.... We cannot control family planning, it has to be voluntary. The economic situation of a family forces one to plan.... Social marketing does not make a difference until infant mortality rates begin to fall.

Reinforce South-South (Southern Hemisphere) partnerships.... This is a very sensitive subject in many African countries, although important advances in reproductive health are being made in many locations.

The actions like family planning are cosmetic actions and will not change the trends of evolution nor provide balance between population and nature. We need to increase eco-efficiency... For example, ecological taxes could limit consumption and waste....

Also, sustainable consumption policy should be a part of social and economic policy.

Limiting life is not acceptable.... It is naive to think this will work. Larger social, cultural, and economic forces make these changes.

3.4 Governments, with some leadership from NGOs and UN agencies, should establish coordinated global efforts and financial incentives directed toward increased contraceptive use (e.g. providing tax advantages to smaller families).

There should be focus on increasing agricultural efficiencies so that larger families are not as needed to help on the farm.... Avoid punitive measures. This was well documented in Chapter 7 from the UN International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 held in Cairo. People will simply pay the fines to have children as wealthier family in China do under one-child policy. Instead, address social development needs.

In developing countries only a small percentage are taxpayers. Incentives like food and cash are there, but still the program needs to be properly targeted by the family planning officers. This is not effective for poor people, who are not taxpayers; education is more important.

The most effective way to do this is to provide low-cost contraceptives through the private sector.... Focus on social marketing to promote the husband's acceptance of the wife's use.... Teaching has to begin at the grass roots, not top down. Reproductive health should be taught, primarily in the primary schools. The secondary schools should teach the consequences of sexual behavior and fertility. This approach cannot be implemented everywhere due to the concern that the teaching of reproductive health might diminish morality. However this concern has been studied by WHO and UNAIDS and found to be untrue.

How to increase contraceptive use without changing the culture and religion? Some countries are suspicious of each other's motives in this area. They are suspicious that other countries want to keep their population low and, hence, be perceived as less powerful. Only UN organizations leading this action would be acceptable.... We will need a coordinated effort among NGOs.... Financial incentives just do not work. They are generally seen as coercive.... Users often pay for services and are quite willing to do so, especially if the services are within reach and are of high quality.

3.5 Governments and NGOs, with some leadership from corporations, should establish many microcredit mechanisms to promote loans to women in third world countries to establish new businesses.

This is increasingly being understood and implemented, even by the World Bank. Accessibility has increased considerably, now focus on awareness of the programs and marketing skills.... Since increasing income is a leading indicator of falling fertility rates and credit is a proven way to increase income, this will be an effective policy.... It is important to receive increased leadership from corporations in order for this method to succeed. Add training by the UNDP, ILO, UNESCO, and other international organizations and NGOs. Make sure honest management and monitoring are part of this action to make sure it gets to the poorer people. A mechanism to mitigate risks associated with corruption in recipient governments needs to be considered in providing financial support.

3.6. Governments should invest in rural/urban marketing and distribution systems so that rural produce can get to urban markets.

Give incentives for establishment of industries in rural areas so they become both producers and consumers... It requires powerful intermediate networks.

3.7 Promote the self-determination and economic autonomy of women, (but take care to operate within the permissible local socio-cultural, religious and moral norms and limits).

Focus on rural populations with radio and television shows that feature women who have become successful.... Special-training programs should be developed.... This is linked to action 3.6. Government and NGOs should lead educational efforts, but government should help provide the minimum threshold of support. More effective and more important than pure business activities would be to strengthen women's awareness and confidence in being independent and taking initiative. NGOs should take the lead. As women become more involved in the cash economy, birth rates decrease in big cities of poor countries. Address the symptoms not the cause.

3.8 In anticipation of population growth, governments should expedite conservation programs for agriculture, food, water, and resources, including educational campaigns and heavy taxes on meat consumption.

Conservation is only part of the solution.... The problem is not scarcity of food, but distribution of resources.... Add heavy taxes on meat consumption in richer countries.... Some want universally equal taxation, some do not.... Add soil conservation methods like "no tillage farming".... If cloning and/or stem cell techniques can produce just part of an organism, like beef muscle, then meat could be produced in local bio-factories with far less impact on the environment. High-yield agriculture has already saved agricultural expansion into millions of square miles of wildlife habitats, but pollution problems are still unresolved.

3.9 Actively seek religious dialogues on the changing roles of women and birth control.

Interfaith coalitions should lead and should not focus just on women, but on men, the family, and the community. Use folk arts in the rural areas. Religious leaders, government, and NGOs should collaborate.

3.10 Encourage widespread access by women to education, communication, and lifestyle awareness.

Oriented not just towards women, but to the family and access to technology that reduces the needs for large families.... Getting girls through elementary school is the strategy that positively affects all the other approaches. Elementary education should be a stand-alone goal.... Include vocational training for women.

3.11 Encourage health policies that diminish infant mortality.

Ensure the life of the first child and abolish the myth about the male child, especially in India. Support government primary health centers for mothers and children. NGOs should lead public education about ethics. Include and stress the construction and equipping of maternity and pediatric hospitals and clinics and training of nurses. Why is infant mortality still high in some countries? Government population policy is less important than achieving a stable political system with a growing economy.

3.12 Encourage land and other inheritance rights for women.

Laws are there, but not implementation. Legal literacy is needed. It is important to stress women's economic rights.... Pressure for change can come from UN conferences like the ones in Cairo (1994, on population and development) and Beijing (1995, on gender equality and women empowerment). Bilateral diplomatic pressure and foreign assistance programs that help rewrite laws can help reinforce this.

3.13 Support the worldwide women's movement aimed at freedom, equality of opportunity, and social justice for women

Hillary Clinton has stressed that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights. Rights are for all people. Governments can support but not lead such movements. These movements may have to be country-by-country keeping a local focus that can be reinforced by global influences like the Internet and UN conferences. Create a media strategy. Women's study centers should evolve programs.

3.14 Encourage and initiate policies that protect the family with adequate benefits so that all can work and support equal pay for men and women who do equal work.

Implement as a government partnership with community churches and social groups and develop legislation in the process.... Law exists, but women's groups should provide leadership for the informal sector. Define the quality of work and hours of working. Currently being included in diplomatic human rights discussions.

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS

Millennium Project participants suggested these actions later on through interviews, Internet correspondence, and/or continuous updating of the Global Challenges.

Planting trees is still one of the most important human actions for the long-term survival of humanity…. To achieve education for all children, the world would need to spend about $7 billion per year over the next ten years. This is less than what is annually spent on cosmetics in USA or on ice cream in Europe, says a UNICEF report.

Long-term statistics show that we have greatly increased the efficiency with which we use resources. This is what R. Buckminister Fuller called "ephemeralization": we are doing ever more with fewer resources. The real "thermodynamic" limits on the extraction of energy are still a very long way away: the theoretical maximum efficiency of energy extraction is still orders of magnitude higher than the efficiency we have now. Fuller's concepts of ephemeralization and synergetic design should be explored more seriously.... UNEP and the UN Population Fund have agreed to work together on issues of population and environment.

As more retired people live longer and there are fewer working people to support them, retirement communities should experiment with Internet-based businesses to earn income and make life more interesting.... Governments and corporations should promote growth in developing countries of nontraditional crops with export potential after doing cost/benefit studies to show this will not be done at the expense of traditional crop growth.... Currently women bear the burden of reproductive responsibility. This should be changed. Males should equally share responsibility. Change men's attitudes toward male contraceptives. Instead of giving money to governments, which can lead to bribery and corruption, encourage corporations to work directly with people to solve social problems and create sustainable development.... Define what we mean by reproductive rights and how to implement them.... Legalization of abortion should be kept separate from the human rights issues.

Add improvement to people's quality of life. Generally, people with a low standard of living adversely affect the environment and consume and even destroy more natural resources. Population birth rate has an inverse relationship to the educational level.

To improve advocacy of healthy and safe sexuality will require changes of traditional thinking, promotion of certain medical techniques, and better-managed health education programs. UN and governments should have greater responsibility for these actions. Create ways to increase gender sensitivity among men that lead to more women being involved in decision-making.

Top of the Page

Health

What can the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune micro organisms be reduced? [Challenge 8]

SUGGESTED ACTIONS TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGE WITH A RANGE OF VIEWS

These actions were distilled from suggestion made by the Millennium Project experts' panel. Following each action are comments and suggestions from Millennium Project participants through interviews, web page, and other collaborations. Generally, each paragraph comes from another source/participant; hence, there might be some inconsistencies in the views expressed.

8.1 WHO, with some assistance from government agencies such as CDC should strengthen and expand the global network of collaborating laboratories to create an effective global surveillance system for emerging viruses and infections.

The recent international collaboration lead by WHO to control SARS was the best thus far in medical history. WHO is working to create a "network of networks", but not all Member States of WHO are willing to share surveillance information on infectious diseases, and many have unreliable data systems, even though this would help them to better prioritize their public health efforts. The intention is to link existing local, regional, national, and international networks of laboratories and medical centers into a super surveillance network. In addition to the 191 WHO Member States, other partners will include the European Union-United States Task Force on Emerging Communicable Diseases and the US-Japan Common Agenda.... WHO global network of laboratories is generating standardized, quantitative data on antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Data are used locally for containment of resistance and internationally to develop better drug policies and advocacy for new antibiotic treatment. In addition to using the latest in satellites and information technology, WHO should also strengthen its leadership and coordinating role with other UN organizations, non-governmental organizations and Member States.

8.2 WHO with strong government support, should increase funding and technical assistance for the global program on vaccines to ensure maximum coverage is obtained with existing antigens and that research and development is intensified for other possible vaccines and immunizations (such as for malaria).

It appears that the reason pharmaceutical companies are not putting more effort into antibiotics and vaccines is simply concern over liability. Bacteria are developing resistance to many vaccines and treatments due to over-use and misuse of antibiotics, which could have broad implications for controlling the spread. If bacteria can evolve permanent resistance to streptomycin or other antibiotics, then reducing antibiotic use in agriculture and medicine may be less effective as a means of combating the rise of bacteria resistance than most scientists assume.... WHO is working with the governments, the private sector and other international organizations in the vaccines program.

8.3 Governments, with support from UN organizations, should increase funding for safe water supply projects.

A more detailed discussion appears above in Global Challenge 2 on Water.... Add nutrition, education, health, and sanitation to this action. A well-nourished body is the first line of defense against most infectious diseases. The human immune system must be empowered with adequate food and care.... Frequently, it is not a question of funding alone, but of allocating resources to those areas that would yield the greatest health benefit. This is a difficult task because priorities are often influenced by political interests or the structuring of health problems is inadequate. Safe water supply projects do not in general depend on Ministries of Health, but on Ministries of Public Works or others. The Ministries of Health are frequently politically and economically weak and unable to structure good policy arguments in favor of developing areas they recognize as having a positive impact on health outcomes. An added problem is the lack of actual recognition of the critical importance of formulating and implementing intersectoral and healthy public policies that would address the determinants of health and disease. Healthy public policies assume that all policies approved by the government (commerce, tourism, economics, public works, education, industrial, etc.) have been tested for their positive impact on the health of the population.

Public health experts have to understand what is safe and not seek water supplies that are completely free of pollutants. It is a balance between what causes disease and costs. To eliminate all possible pollutants is very costly.... This is very important because according to the World Health Report, almost half the global population suffers from diseases related to lack of, or contaminated, water. Dehydration from diarrhea is the biggest killer of children, and efforts to improve the quality of water supply need to be accompanied by specific efforts to educate the mothers, which is the biggest determinant of reducing diarreal deaths in children. Adequate water and sanitation could go a long way in reducing far more deaths and disabilities with a growing number of pathogens.

8.4 WHO, with active participation of Member States should create a rapid international medical deployment capacity to respond to outbreaks of infectious disease with epidemic potential.

WHO works closely with CDC in this area. WHO also has military liaisons from national governments whose roll will become more important.

8.5 Governments, with support from international organizations, should increase the funding and capacity of such agencies as the CDC, USAID, WHO, and other international cooperation (technical and financial), to better collaborate with countries in strengthening national disease surveillance and control systems.

8.6 WHO, with national leadership and management by governments, should focus international attention and funding on those diseases that have been targeted by the World Health Assembly for eradication or elimination as public health problems (polio, measles, guinea worm, and leprosy).

Polio has been eliminated from the Americas region, the last case happened in Peru in 1994. CDC will provide $8 million to PAHO to cooperate in a five-year effort to ensure measles eradication.... Globally invested money for eradication will bring enormous financial returns.

According the United States Government Accounting Office, the US investment of $32 million into the global eradication of smallpox had saved the US $17 billion by 1997. TB patients treated in the Third World at $10 to $15 for drugs can help reduce the chance of a multi-drug resistant strain being created and eventually imported into the US where multi-drug resistant patients can cost approximately $250,000.

8.7 Corporations, with some leadership by governments, should initiate intensified research into advanced-generation antibiotics.

Issues of liability that are preventing corporate initiatives have to be addressed.... Innovative efforts should lead to making regulations more flexible in light of the damage that anti-microbial resistance is and will continue causing…. Loosening the ethical and legal liabilities on the pharmaceutical companies and research institutions MUST be done with extreme caution and be kept to a minimum, as human suffering can not experience any additional abuse, especially under the excuse of medical research.

8.8 Governments, NGOs, and international organizations should cooperate in training, credit, and technical assistance for small and microeconomic development to improve economic development in poorer countries and thus improve the standard of living.

See Challenge 7 on the Rich-Poor Gap for greater discussion of this.

8.9 Governments should at least double the amount of funding devoted to scientific research on HIV and AIDS.

This suggestion has been achieved since it was proposed in earlier Millennium Project global outlook panels.

8.10 Governments should at least double the amount of funding devoted to education and public persuasion to practice safe sex.

This suggestion has been achieved since it was proposed in earlier Millennium Project global outlook panels.

Mass media should be forced to support the family as the only acceptable life style and help maintaining its stability through refraining from supporting unregulated sexual relations, and increase the awareness of the public specially youth to control the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

One international expert on AIDS suggested that rather than doubling the amount of funding, focus the attention on the small percentage of people who are responsible for a large percentage of the spread of HIV, such as urban prostitutes, without driving them further underground.

This focus should include continued education at treatment centers and contact tracing.... Although contact tracing is very effective, issues of privacy have to be solved. This was the strategy that reduced sexually transmitted diseases before, not broad general education and posters.... What has to be promoted is negotiating skills that teach a teenager how to negotiate with his/her girlfriend/boyfriend about the need to use a condom.... There is a lack of attention among older people. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), for exam¬ple, issued a warning to post-menopausal women to whom "safe sex" has in the past only meant "avoid pregnancy".... The UN and other international organizations and governments should implement these actions cooperatively.... Uganda has experienced some success in emphasizing prevention through education and public marketing programs.... The right kind of information is needed to determine what groups need to be targeted the most, and what kinds of programs to use in education. Simply saying 'education is needed' is not enough; we need concrete plans based on reliable research.

8.11 Governments and NGOs should establish free condom programs in all countries in which the disease is spreading.

This action is on target, but do not make condoms free. Research in Thailand and Brazil proved that low-cost supply (subsidized) to the market place with social marketing was a better distribution strategy than free distribution programs. This should be coupled with more normal strategies to treat other sexually transmitted diseases as noted in action 8.6.... If condoms are free, there is no effect; they are not valued at all. There must be a small price, possibly subsidized, for the condoms.

Education is the key to teach people responsible and safe sex practices, and it is never ending.

8.12 Governments should establish programs that focus on the rights of women.

Women cannot protect themselves without the man's cooperation in using condoms, which brings the issue to the status and rights of women worldwide. What are the choices for a woman whose husband dies of AIDS in a country that does not allow her to inherit property? … What is the connection between improving women's status and the issues of inheritance when her husband dies of AIDS? Stressing this is totally out of the context here. Moreover, touching a critical point like this will deviate the attention of those practicing this kind of discrimination to protect their interests, rather than thinking of helping women to improve their status and/or regain their violated rights…. Increasing women's status through education and employment translates into a closer ratio of males to females in urban populations, which translates into less commercial sex when compared to urban areas with more males than females and, hence, increased urban commercial sex. African cities with a higher male to female ratio have a higher incidence of commercial sex than those with nearly 1:1 ratios. Also, uneducated and unemployed females have a harder time saying no to men who do not use condoms.... Brothels should mandate the use of condoms. (See for example the case of Nevada, where in some counties prostitution is legal and where HIV/AIDS is rare1)

Sex trade should be unionized to enforce condom use and have clients pay for condoms. We need research to find what a married woman can use to kill the virus without killing the sperm.

Governments should officially recognize that community based social programs with local leadership, usually women, are frequently the final common pathway in eradication of disease (Lancet July 2003).There must be a commitment to building capacity for public-health programs at the district level, epidemiological profiles vary across countries, even within regions. More reliable and timely health data are needed at country and district level to inform policy choices and assess the effectiveness of programs. Capacity must be built to collect, analyze, interpret, and act on these data. Reductions in child mortality are needed at district level to achieve the ambitious Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality worldwide by two-thirds by 2015.


1 “For Safe Sex Brothels Are Best” The safest places for sex are the brothels of Nevada and among those practicing responsible non-monogamy or polyfidelity with careful, knowledgeable, sexually mature people. An article "No gambling in the brothels" said "In the last year and a half of testing approximately 4.700 prostitutes, Nevada has not found one to be positive for AIDS. You are far more likely to be killed in an auto accident than enjoying sexual pleasure sharing. A man who sees prostitutes takes much less of a risk for AIDS than you on your drive to work. This may not fit many moralists' agendas but it is the fact. http://www.libchrist.com/std/facts.html.”

 

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS

Millennium Project participants suggested these actions later on through interviews, Internet correspondence, and/or continuous updating of the Global Challenges.

Although notification of partners of HIV/AIDS patients seems to be violating their rights of autonomy and confidentiality, it allows those partners to make their own decisions of whether to stop or to continue this intimate relation with their infected partners. In the latter case, those partners will be given the chance to take the enough measures to protect themselves from being driven, blind-eyed, to the death row. Reporting should be mandatory, confidential and timely by the physician/lab etc to the respective health authority. It is very crucial that the respective governments have to insure the safety of those proved to be infected from experiencing any kind of abuse and /or discrimination by their partners and/or the society.

Consider adding the state of environment as one of basic factors of diseases. Minimally is it connected to the immune system and also psychosomatic. Also consider genetic modified organism and the relationship to biodiversity, ethics, etc. Genetics will have both positive and negative impacts on diseases. What indicators could be created to measure all this?

Challenge 8 can be addressed through mass education, making sure that governments assume responsibility and are transparent about the prevalence of these diseases, the adoption of preventive and curative measures, and improved access of the people to health services. The 1993 World Bank report, as well as other work indicates that a crucial investment is the education of girls.

A significant shift in public expenditures and personal practices will be needed to address HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.. UNAIDS and WHO suggest it is counterproductive to require HIV examinations because it converts government health officials into policeman and will lead to abuse and bribery. Similarly, searching for and notification of partners of HIV-positive people can create a stigma and drive some underground. Instead, HIV testing should be made available at cost for individuals and subsidized for couples, including homosexual couples. Another policy UNAIDS and WHO suggest avoiding is international travel restrictions for people infected with HIV because it makes them the enemy of society, who, in turn, would act like the enemy, contribute to crime, and act in other irresponsible ways. Instead, we need people with HIV to identify with society and be socially responsible, as well as some in high-profile positions. Every country needs a Magic Johnson. On the other hand, Cuba initiated a forced testing and humane quarantine policy that seems to have worked well.

Promote telemedicine initiatives to bring the best medical knowledge to all areas of the world and significantly improve the responsiveness of the medical system to critical areas.... Understand more about the relationship between disease and ecology (both external environment and internal ecology of genes) and between disease and genetics (including the mechanism for rapid adaptation to new strengths and mutation)…. Establish religious and cultural values via media to reinforce good health practices....

We need to study what people do once they are notified that they are HIV positive. Once that behavior is understood, policies should be based on those research conclusions. What is the socioeconomic impact of a 25% infection rate? We need to learn how to do contact tracing without being counterproductive. UNAIDS is new and it is doing a good job of collecting information, however, it is too soon to say how coordination of policy implementation will work.... Improve and standardize governments' information systems for management of HIV. Get all physicians involved in confidential case reporting. Information is the front line of defense.... Stop legalization of prostitution; educate people through media to treat sexual problems correctly.... Others prefer legalization as better way to manage this problem.

HIV/AIDS will not be the last disease to alter our way of life. We must begin to view all human life and life on earth from the perspective of the pathogen and do all we can early on in preventing their evolution speeding ours.

The 51st World Health Assembly in May 1998 urged the Member States to develop sustainable systems to detect antimicrobial-resistant pathogens; to monitor volumes and patterns of use of antimicrobial agents and the impact of control measures; to develop educational programs to encourage the appropriate and cost-effective use of antimicrobial agents; to improve practices to prevent the spread of infection and of resistant pathogens, to promote appropriate antibiotic use in health care facilities and in the community; to develop measures to protect health workers from the hazards of resistant pathogens; to develop measures to prohibit the dispensing of antimicrobials without prescription; to strengthen legislation to prevent the manufacture, sale and distribution of counterfeit antimicrobial agents and the sale of antibiotics on the informal market; and to take measures to encourage the reduced use of antimicrobials in food-animal production. (Resolution WHA51.17)

The United States proposed a new tax credit for sales of vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS to accelerate the invention and production of these vaccines. Because developing countries often cannot afford to buy vaccines, the market provides little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases that disproportionately affect those countries. This tax credit would provide such an incentive, because every dollar paid by a qualifying organization to buy a qualifying vaccine would be matched by a dollar of tax credits representing up to $1 billion of additional funding for future vaccine purchases.

Top of the Page

Status of Women

How can the status of women help improve the human condition? [Challenge 11]

SUGGESTED ACTIONS TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGE WITH A RANGE OF VIEWS

These actions were distilled from suggestion made by the Millennium Project experts' panel. Following each action are comments and suggestions from Millennium Project participants through interviews, web page, and other collaborations. Generally, each paragraph comes from another source/participant; hence, there might be some inconsistencies in the views expressed.

11.1 Governments, with some leadership from UN organizations, should increase emphasis on programs designed to reduce the female illiteracy rate, especially among rural, migrant, refugee, internally displaced, and disabled women.

Enhancing the intelligence of individuals is essential for development. Make primary education universal, free, and compulsory.  Hold the child in class until the child is literate. Education is the fundamental solution and economic support is the key to the solution.  For example, providing the opportunity for education and employment to women.... It should be planned accordingly to the region’s conditions.... In addition to formal education, the media should help promote literacy through educational programs.... Improving the position of women also has strong positive effects on their children. Many studies, including some in Bolivia, the US, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, and Pakistan, show that better education for mothers increases the likelihood that their children will be educated. Total returns on schooling are higher for women than for men.... Parents should be told the value of educating women.

11.2 International organizations and governments should encourage programs that providesupport for childcare and other services to mothers.

Parental contact and nurturing interaction during the child's early ages is critical for future development of social skills, self-confidence, self-realization potential, and approach to conflict resolution.... Add generous paid and unpaid parental leave provisions and other measures that encourage and allow parents to keep a principal role in the care for their children. It should emphasize that institutional child care should not and cannot replace care by the family. Mass mechanisms have to be made more efficient. Awareness is necessary.... Concentrate on preventive medicine and good health practices.

This is important, but literacy and education are primary.... This issue is less important now in cultures with extended families, but will become a problem as more people become employed.... Governments should include women's affairs in national planning. For example, as is done in Sweden, extra time off for the mother could be given during the first year for child-care. This society believes the investment in the future is worth it.

Our fathers and mothers can negotiate to share time off and responsibilities. There is a law in Germany that allows one of the parents to take a year off from his/her work. However, in most cases, mothers choose the leave option because of the existing social values regarding child-rearing. This remains an issue that needs to be addressed.

11.3 Explore sanctions for governments that do not enact and enforce legislation to guarantee the rights of women and other groups (including property rights), and adopt and implement laws against discrimination in employment.

Legal enforcement should be built into the law itself. Economic sanctions are not the best solution but they are tools. Evolution of rights should be a continuous process, without the need of rules' support.... NGOs should lead the movement.... This action may require enforcement by embargoes against offending nations.... Couple education to change attitudes in addition to enforcing legislation.... The US has no credibility when it chastises the Chinese on human rights. It has no authority to do so. Instead, we need to create a system of incentives.... Have the Rio and Beijing UN conferences had any lasting effect? We need to know and measure.... The UN needs enforcement power. It could use some teeth in the human rights charter.... Women work longer hours than men in nearly every country and of the total burden of work, women carry an average 53% in developing countries and 51% in industrial countries. Men's work time in industrial countries is roughly two-thirds spent in paid activities and one-third spent in unpaid activities. For women, the situation is the reverse.

The Millennia 2015 group conducted a Real Time Delphi, an innovative methodology to determine expert ratings on the likelihood and impacts of certain events that may take place in the future. This methodology also seeks to find a consensus among these experts. Asked whether they thought, by 2018, there would be introduced economic penalties for countries that fail to meet global gender equity standards, there was a fairly high level of agreement that it would be unlikely this would happen. [See "Appendix A: Developments to Improve the Status of Women (the full report)" for the entire study.]

11.4 Implement the Platform for Action, passed by the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995.

Implementing the Platform for Action of the World Conference on Women in Beijing is an important first step that countries should take to more effectively enhance the status of women. The Platform for Action of the UN conference is not known to people. Information dissemination is necessary. Underdevelopment and lack of information are inter-linked. NGOs and government should join together to get over this problem. Although discussions about the changing role of women are increasing, it may be necessary to explore sanctions against governments that do not guarantee the rights of women.

11.5 Governments should increase funding for health care and social services.

Sure, but not likely, given the global trends of government budget cutting. International organizations such as UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, and WHO help establish women's health centers that provide counseling on issues ranging from violence and genital mutilation to family planning and nutrition.

The availability of preventive medicine and good health practices is crucial. In order to ensure these services, mass mechanisms have to be made more efficient, and awareness is necessary.... This is important, but literacy and education are primary.

IInstead of giving funding to organizations, instead give "targeted" funds to individuals through voucher programs for more universal coverage. This is an opportunity to construct comprehensive support health care packages to foster social inclusion of historically marginalized populations. Chile's Chile Solidario (Chilean Solidarity) model of outreach to families in long-term poverty is one example Such targeted measures may include subsidizing people – not services – to take up specific health services, for example, through vouchers or conditional cash transfers in which the beneficiary is compelled to seek medical services. 2

11.6 Governments should ratify and enforce international treaties on trafficking and slavery, with some leadership from corporations and NGOs.

In the meantime, educate the slaves. For example, if a country says it has no slaves, then educate those people who it says are not slaves by letting them go to school. As is feasible, NGOs and UNESCO might intervene.

Trafficking in women has become a lucrative $12 billion a year trade, with an estimated 2 million victims worldwide, according to the United Nations.

In Geneva, the International Organization for Migration urged governments to toughen and enforce laws against sex trafficking. The intergovernmental agency estimates that some 700,000 women and children each year are caught up in networks from which there is little or no escape. Many do not know what they are getting into; others take the risk because their living conditions are so poor they believe they have nothing to lose, the agency said in a statement (InfoBeat, 3/09/01).

11.7 Use the Internet to link and train NGOs, government officials, and international organizations to improve their effectiveness working with women and other groups seeking economic autonomy.

Feasible, but the prerequisite is that developed countries provide more Internet equipment to developing countries.... The role of government is the most important, however, at the same time, the UN, NGOs, IOs, and enterprises could contribute to resolving the problem through financial support and education.

There was a fairly high level of agreement among the participants in the Millennia 2015 study conducted in December 2008, that it is very likely that by 2018 there would be worldwide periodic assessments on gender-equity status and the results be generally available. See Appendix A: Developments to Improve the Status of Women (The Full Report).

11.8 Governments and NGOs should enhance women's access to credit, technology, training, land, other women, and other groups.

Women need to be involved in decision-making bodies to make this possible. Women's education should be strengthened and governments should pay more attention to the health and security of working women.

11.9 Governments, with some leadership from NGOs, should ensure women's involvement in decision-making relating to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases such as STDs, facilitate the development of strategies to protect women from HIV and other STDs, and ensure the provision of affordable preventive services for STDs and HIV/AIDS.

Research by UNAIDS shows that the subordinate position of women associated with marital abuse, rape, and trafficking of women and children leads to HIV infection.... This action should be led by government ministers of women's affairs in collaboration with NGOs.... This is becoming a national debate in Ghana and churches are playing a more important role here.... STDs are now called STIs-sexually transmitted infections. [See Global Challenge 8 for a greater discussion of this action.]

11.10 Governments should restructure and target the allocation of public expenditures to promote women's access to family planning resources.

Insure the life of the first child and family planning will take care of itself. The implementation of this action depends on each national situation. It is an issue of quality and education. The network of primary health centers should be used effectively.

11.11 Support role models for women and other groups.

Involve local people in finding role models, and use role models to raise men's consciousness and respect for women's intellectual value and equality.

11.12 Promote discussions about the changing role of women, birth control, and religion.

Gender sensitivity should be increased among men and women. Both religious and political actors should be involved in decreasing the birth rate. Policymakers should be involved because the public needs to know why such actions should be implemented. Religious leaders should be involved because they are or have been against regulating birth rates. It can be carried out on the radio, Internet and other media. Poor quality of contraceptives leads to family problems. This is especially relevant as the rise of political Islamic fundamentalism could counter global trends in the changing status of women.

11.13 Give equal pay for equal work.

It is necessary, but should emphasize quantity and quality at the same time. Women's organizations need to be formed to help implementation within the informal sector. This can be realized in some countries, particularly in socialist countries. Women's associations should lead.

11.14 Gather statistics on women

In an effort to adequately cater to the global needs of women and implement effective development programs, reliable and accurate statistics need to be collected. This category also takes into account women's unpaid work and strategies to place a monetary value on work so that it can be included in the GNP, which may enhance women's status. Standards need to be set to stop the excessive portrayal of women as 'pieces of meat' because these attitudes carry over into the community and negatively affect women's status and levels of violence.

For the 15th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action +15 planned for 2010, to renew awareness and engagement on the need to implement the Beijing PFA, the NGO Beijing +15 stressed the critical need for implementation, monitoring, and evaluation on all levels: international, regional, national and local. Next year will see the development of a Communications Toolkit that will be disseminated at the regional and country level to support each country's effort to deliver one key output: a document identifying 12 key accomplishments that have been made since Beijing and highlighting 12 key areas where critical gaps remain. This will be a very effective way to drill-down to local levels. 3

11.15 Increase expenditure targeted at women

Across the world, typically expenditures allocated toward women's programs tend to be small in proportion to other forms of spending. Should expenditure on equal opportunities for gender in the public sector be taken into account, usually the total is not more than 5 % of government expenditure. Here, it is vital to look at the 95% not targeted at women beneficiaries or programs that promote equal opportunity for women. The reason is because this spending is never gender-neutral in that it will ultimately have different impacts on women and girls and men and boys since they occupy different social positioning.

One way to help identify this unequal spending is through gender responsive budgets. According to UNIFEM, gender-responsive budget analysis refers to the analysis of actual government expenditure and revenue on women and girls as compared to men and boys. Gender budgets are not separate budgets for women and they don't aim to increase spending on women specific programs. Gender budget analysis helps governments decide how policies need to be adjusted, and where resources need to be reallocated. Gender budget analysis provides women with an indicator of government commitment to address women's specific needs and rights to health care, education and employment.

It also provides a way to hold governments accountable for its commitments to gender equality and women's human rights, such as Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), by linking these commitments to the distribution, use and generation of public resources. Gender responsive budget analysis promotes equality, transparency, efficiency and accountability.

11.16 Raise awareness about gender issues through the media

The media is one very effective means of spreading information. Unfortunately, it too often perpetuates negative stereotypes of women and does not reflect the changing roles of women and their many contributions to society. Efforts around the world have been made to use media to improve women's status. In Nepal, for instance, training workshops for journalists were held to raise their awareness to gender issues. In Cambodia, a monitoring project of radio shows revealed that negative stereotypes were still quite pervasive. There had been an increase, however, in women's programming. An expansion of these types of efforts is necessary to help bring about cultural change. The results of a Real-Time Delphi conducted by Millennia 2015 show a high level of agreement that by 2018, the media would not stop perpetuating gender stereotypes. See Appendix A: Developments to Improve the Status of Women (The Full Report)

11.17 Identify roles and programming for men

Many of the initiatives that seek to enhance the status of women target women exclusively. While this is an important part of development programming, there must also be initiatives that are oriented towards men. By focusing only on women, programs too often ignore the social relations in place that put women in a position of lower status and disadvantage. Simply increasing resources without engaging in the social relations will limit the effectiveness of these projects to enhance the status of women.

Greater efforts are required worldwide for men and boys to play their part to end violence against women and girls, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated. "In too many countries, women are still not seen as equals in the eye of the law or the minds of men and boys," Mr. Ban said in a video message to the Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality, held in Rio de Janeiro in 2009. "No country and no culture has fully escaped this prejudice. Men must teach each other that real men do not violate or oppress women – and that a woman's place is not just in the home or the field, but in schools and offices and boardrooms." The Secretary-General kicked off his "UNite to End Violence against Women" campaign – a multi-year effort aimed at preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls in all parts of the world. Stretching from 2008 to 2015, the campaign calls on governments, civil society, women's organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system.5


2 Anti-Poverty Policies and Citizenry: The Chile Solidario Experience, Julieta Palma and Raul Urzua, Department of Public Policy,  University of Chile.
3 2009 Commission on the Status of Women recommended action just before March 2010 CSW Event.
4 Global Medica Project. A network of communication groups, women’s media associations, women’s grassroots groups and researchers in academia. These groups participated in previous GMMPs in 1995, 2000 and 2005.
5 “Men and Boys Must Play Their Part in Ending Violence Against Women.” UN News Service, September 2008.


 

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS

Millennium Project participants suggested these actions later on through interviews, Internet correspondence, and/or continuous updating of the Global Challenges.

Create policy measures to redress persistent gender disparities in command over resources. There needs to be government efforts to promote equality of access to and control of productive resources -- whether they are education, financial resources or land -- and to ensure fair and equal access to employment opportunities to advance gender equality. Gender disparities require changes in institutional reform. Given that active measures entail economic costs, policymakers will need to be selective about which measures require prioritization, focusing largely on where government intervention has the largest social benefits.

Strengthen women's political voice and participation. Government efforts toward improving women's status should include strengthening women's political voice and participation. When women's numbers in decision-making positions grow, they gain greater political clout. To this end, there needs to be more programs targeted at increasing women's positions at higher levels. In order that these programs are effective, there needs to be greater contribution of women in the design of these interventions.

Increase expenditure targeted at women's programs. Across the world, typically expenditures allocated toward women's programs tend to be small in proportion to other forms of spending. Should expenditure on equal opportunities for gender in the public sector be taken into account, usually the total is not more than 5 percent of government expenditure. Here, it is vital to look at the 95% not targeted at women beneficiaries or programs that promote equal opportunity for women. The reason is because this spending is never gender-neutral in that it will ultimately have different impacts on women and girls and men and boys since they occupy different social positioning.

Create policies and programs that are culture-sensitive. It is critical that gender policies and programs are culture-sensitive, which means that successful designs for improving women's status in one context need not be applicable to another. In this case, policies and programs targeted at women as well as men can only be effective when informed by the cultural specificities of how gender is constructed in a society. For this reason, international organizations and NGOs should collaborate with governments and local NGOs in their efforts to increase women's status. However, in some instances, cultural norms themselves may be responsible for the perpetuation of gender inequality; in this case, steps have to be taken to address its negative implications, which may include establishing legal measures to counter the problem of gender inequality more effectively.

In a recent study, Save the Children, recommends policy changes in five areas. First, increase girls' chances of completing primary school by raising the legal age of marriage and supporting policies that allow pregnant girls to stay in school. Second, ensure that adolescents have access to sexual and reproductive health education. Third, expand legal protections to protect young women and adolescent girls from forced sex and prostitution. Fourth, support women entrepreneurs. Fifth, link development aid to a country's efforts at improving the status of women.

UNDP suggests redressing the imbalance between men and women by electing national legislatures with a minimum of 30 percent women.... In an effort to adequately cater to the global needs of women and implement effective development programs, reliable and accurate statistics need to be collected.  This category also takes into account women's unpaid work and strategies to place a monetary value on work so that it can be included in the GNP, which may enhance women's status. Standards need to be set to stop the excessive portrayal of women as "pieces of meat" because these attitudes carry over into the community and negatively affect women's status and levels of violence.

Women's World Banking is in over 40 countries, but with so much attention to the Grameen Bank, these Women's Banks get less support.... Because a major percentage of income in poor regions goes to alcohol, some type of alcohol control is needed.

Changing consciousness is the most important way to improve the present autonomy of women.  The cultural perception that men are superior to women has been here for a long time. It is a common worldwide problem.

Educate men. Develop their consciousness of intellectual and human equality and respect for women. Do this through the media, work ethics, and eventually law reinforcement....Additionally, school curricula are a vital channel through which values can be conveyed. When children learn that they have equal rights irrespective of their gender, this worldview can be carried into their adult life. Removing stereotypes on gender in the media can also serve to emphasize women's equal position to men.

Men should be included in programs directly affecting women, such as health and reproductive rights, in order to increase their awareness of a shared-responsibility ideology in matters of family planning. In societies where there is a pronounced gender role specialization of certain activities in the home, men should be encouraged to help in managing the home as well as nurturing the children. The former is particularly important since women typically provide about 70 percent of work carried out in the home.

Stress should be on rural women and employing their traditional knowledge gainfully. Instead of targeting specific groups it should be oriented towards the whole village.... More women need global scholarly experience of at least two or three years to improve self-determination and autonomy.  This should be a great jump forward for all of society.

Build training in technology for the employment of women. Women's associations should be created within the informal sector to open male-dominated jobs to women.

There is agreement that women should have equal rights with men, but they may not necessarily be involved in economic and business relationships in the same manner as men.... The division of Advancement for Women at the UN Headquarters is trying to promote women's participation in decisionmaking in business and political areas. Men's work needs to be reduced so women can do the same workload as men. This would allow men to contribute to household work. The Japanese corporate system of working extremely long hours was created under the assumption that men have wives at home as caretakers and housewives. Therefore, in order for the Japanese women to participate in the case economy, men's work also needs to be changed.

Top of the Page