UN calls for more gender equality for population control
About 40% of women do not have the right to decide whether they want to have children, found a report released this Tuesday (11) by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, its acronym in English). The agency calls for more gender equality in the workforce to control population growth and raise incomes at the same time.
According to the report 8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: In defense of rights and choices, population policies are often ineffective and can undermine women’s rights. According to the document, both policies to increase and decrease birth rates do not have the expected effects.
For countries that offer financial incentives and rewards (for women and partners) to encourage larger families, birth rates remain below two children per woman. On the contrary, several countries promote forced sterilizations and coercive contraception to contain population growth, grossly violating human rights.
For UNFPA, an agency of the United Nations (UN), family planning should not be used as a tool to achieve fertility goals. Empowering individuals, the report highlighted, is more effective, with women deciding when and how many children they would like to have, without pressure from experts and authorities.
Recommendations
According to the report, guaranteeing women’s rights, with access to health and parity in the labor market, is more efficient to achieve gender equality, rights and opportunities. This equality, explained the document, must manifest itself in education, in the division of tasks and in income.
Among the report’s recommendations are instituting policies such as parental leave programs, child tax credits, promoting gender equality in the workplace, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. According to UNFPA, this strategy ensures economic dividends and creates resilient societies, able to prosper even as populations change.
When presenting the report, the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, defended the care with the environment to guarantee the future of a population that ages and lives longer. According to United Nations projections, the planet will have almost 10.5 billion people by 2080, with an increasing number of people over 100 years old.
Brazil
The report also presented data on Brazil. According to the document, the country’s average fertility rate dropped to 1.6 children per woman. At the lowest level in history, the rate is well below the level of 2.1 children per woman needed to stop the long-term population decline.
According to UNPFA, Brazil follows the world trend of countries with a drop in population in the long term. The report showed that 66% of countries have a fertility rate below 2.1.
The decreasing volume of births and the advance of medicine are reflected in the aging of the Brazilian population. According to the report, life expectancy in Brazil reached 73 years for men and 79 years for women in 2023, below the global average of 72.8 years.
UNPFA recommends planning for Brazil and other countries experiencing this phenomenon to adjust health and retirement systems to promote active and healthy aging, increase social protection and reduce inequalities.
