Women Health

British Medical Journal (BMJ) have released a special series of papers on "Women’s Health and Gender Inequalities". 

The series celebrates and interrogates collective progress towards making the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on Women a reality for all women and girls everywhere, in all their diversity¹. It includes 13 articles, written by 40 authors working together across institutions from 15 countries, at different stages of their career.

The series reflects on new and emerging threats, including COVID-19, which has exacerbated existing inequities, with reports of rising violence against women, as well as higher adverse economic impacts caused both by increased unpaid care-giving and the fact that women work in more insecure, low-paid, and informal jobs.

The Women’s Health and Gender Inequalities series articulates a forward-looking agenda towards:

- Bodily autonomy — enabling women and girls to make informed sexual, reproductive, and healthcare decisions.

- Promoting equitable gender norms, including those that make violence against women and girls, including harmful practices such as early/forced marriage and female genital mutilation, unacceptable.

- Financing universal health coverage and social protection to cover health costs, child care, paid parental, sick and family care leave, and old age pension.

- Valuing paid employment and unpaid care work equally and enabling men to share care work with women.

- Addressing male bias in the development of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics.

- Strengthening health systems to include safe, decent working conditions for the majority female health workforce including eliminating sexual harassment and violence.

- Investing in feminist movements, which have been instrumental in fostering progressive changes towards gender equality.

- Ensuring women’s and feminist leadership in governments, health and development agencies, and other global organizations.

This series is a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in women's health and gender equality.