- Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Family Planning
- Women, Girls, and HIV
- Maternal Health
- U.S. Foreign Policy & Funding
- Watch: Making U.S. Foreign Assistance Work for Women and Girls in Ethiopia
- Female Condoms and U.S. Foreign Policy
- Family Planning Policy Restrictions and HIV
- U.S. Global Health Initiative
- Global Gag Rule
- Helms Amendment
- Foreign Assistance Budget
- Foreign Assistance Reform
- Kemp-Kasten Amendment
- Abstinence & Fidelity
- Anti-Prostitution Pledge
- Advocacy and Foreign Assistance
- Why Women and Girls?
Why Women and Girls?
The world has already developed a consensus on women’s importance to development. For decades, the global community has responded to the notable efforts of the global women’s movement and has moved away from demographic centered population and development policies toward putting human rights and women’s equality at the center. At the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the United States joined a clear consensus that stated that “[t]he empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of their political, social, economic and health status is a highly important end in itself. In addition it is essential for the achievement of sustainable development.”
CHANGE believes women and girls should be central to U.S. sexual and reproductive health policy, not because they are more deserving or more vulnerable than men--rather, we believe that women must be equal partners in each society’s governance and development, both because it is their right and because global development cannot take place without their energy and ideas. Additionally, because of their multiple roles as family caregivers, community activists, and civil society leaders, women have critical insight on human needs that cannot be excluded from development planning.
Men and boys are key partners in this effort. Their needs and wellbeing are also undermined by gender stereotypes, and they have a great deal at stake in ending gender-based violence, lowering maternal mortality, and ensuring healthy lives for women and girls.
See CHANGE's Policy Brief A Woman-Centered Approach to the U.S. Global Health Initiative
AIDS-free Generation? Not Without Women
Women are now the majority of people living with HIV worldwide. The HIV pandemic has changed--our responses have to change with it, or we'll never create an AIDS-free generation.
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Urge your Senators to Support International Family Planning Funding
Tell your Senators that you support full funding for international family planning and a permanent repeal of the Global Gag Rule.
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Tell your Representative to Support the United Nations
Congress is now considering a bill (H.R. 2829) that would effectively end our relationship with the United Nations. Act now and tell your Representative to oppose this harmful piece of legislation.
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Take Action on the Global Gag Rule
Join your voice with others and urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor the Global Democracy Promotion Act of 2011, a bill that would create a legislative barrier to block attempts by a future administration to re-instate the Global Gag Rule.
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Raise your voice for the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act
Ask your Representative to co-sponsor the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act (H.R. 1319), newly introduced legislation that promotes a truly comprehensive and integrated approach to U.S. international reproductive health programs.
Take Action
Tell your Representative to Oppose Elimination of International Family Planning Funding
The House is currently debating a spending bill (H.R. 1) that, as it stands, would drastically decrease funding for international family planning and reproductive health, global HIV/AIDS, and maternal and child health programs and services. We need you to speak out for women's health and rights today!
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Help Make U.S. Global AIDS Programs Work for Women
Send a postcard to Ambassador Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and urge him to make U.S. global AIDS programs and policies work harder and better for women and girls worldwide.
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Urge your Representative to Co-Sponsor the ICPD Resolution
Urge your member of Congress to support sexual and reproductive health and rights and sustainable development globally by co-sponsoring Rep. Lee's ICPD resolution.
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Source60,000 - The number of maternal deaths attributed to HIV in 2008.
Source52% - Women make up approximately 52% of the total global population living with HIV.
Source8 - In sub-Saharan Africa, women 15-24 years old are 8 times more likely than men to be HIV positive.
Source#1 - Globally, HIV is the leading cause of death and disease in women of reproductive age.
Source15.9 million - Of the 33.3 million adults living with HIV in 2009, 15.9 million were women.
Source60% - Women account for approximately 60% of the HIV/AIDS population in sub-Saharan Africa.
Source50% - Only 50% of women who give birth each year receive antenatal, delivery, and newborn care.
Source5 - Worldwide, women are 5 times more likely than men to contract an STI.
Source85% - 85% of the world's 3.3 billion females live in low-income countries.
Source16 million - Each year there are approximately 16 million births to adolescent mothers.
Women’s Rights After CSW57: A Battle Won, A War Continues
Women all over the world fight for equality, recognition and safety every day. These fights – taken up by mothers trying to raise healthy families, young women who want access to higher education, girls in conflict areas collecting water – are often invisible, hidden, not seen by the outside world.
UN body agrees on declaration addressing women’s reproductive rights
A U.N. policy-making body agreed upon a declaration Friday urging an end to violence against women and girls despite concerns from conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican about references to women's sexual and reproductive rights.
Ex-Chilean president Michelle Bachelet says she’s leaving UN Women and going back to Chile
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who became head of the U.N. agency promoting women’s equality in July 2010, said Friday night that she is giving up the post and returning home, an announcement that comes amid widespread speculation she plans to run for president again this year.
Escaping child marriage in Bangladesh by knowing your sexual and reproductive health rights
Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. It also has one of the lowest rates of birth registration in the world which constrains legal protection against child marriages. Two in three women marry before the legal age of marriage, which is 18 for girls, and one in three women start childbearing before the age of 20.
The Lancet: Women’s health—broadening the remit
International Women's Day on March 8 should be a day of celebration for women around the globe. It has been observed since 1911, and has been a platform from which to campaign for women's rights and recognition, but it has also been used to celebrate women's achievements and call for peace in more turbulent times.
Advancing the Status of Women and Girls Around the World
Global stability, peace, and prosperity depend on protecting and advancing the rights of women and girls around the world. Research shows that progress in women’s employment, health, and education can lead to greater economic growth and stronger societies. Evidence demonstrates that integrating women’s perspectives into peace negotiations and security efforts helps prevent conflict and can lead to more durable peace agreements.
At the UN, Twenty Years of Backlash to ‘Women’s Rights Are Human Rights’
Socially conservative American Catholics and like-minded evangelical Protestants who have led a decades-long campaign against the rights of women in the United States are now gearing up for a season of battles on the bigger global stage. This week, the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN begins a two-year series of international meetings that pave the way to the twentieth anniversary of the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, which fundamentally redefined the role of women in family and society.
Secretary Kerry To Honor Nine Women of Courage on International Women’s Day
On Friday, March 8, Secretary John Kerry will honor 9 extraordinary women with the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. First Lady Michelle Obama will join Secretary Kerry and the awardees as a special guest at the 3 p.m. ceremony in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. Department of State.
Fact Sheet: Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act
The Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act (H.R. 1319) establishes U.S. policy and authorizes assistance to support universal access to sexual and reproductive health care in developing countries, including contraception and safe abortion.
Download this PDF
File Under: Fact Sheets
Policy Recommendations: Married Women and HIV: Comprehensive Prevention
In the absence of community-based efforts to alter the social structures that promote infidelity, public health programs which aim to reduce married women’s risk by telling men to be faithful will not succeed.
Download this PDFFile Under: Fact Sheets
Research Summary: Marital Sex and the HIV Risk for Women Worldwide
Globally, women’s risk of contracting HIV is heightened if they are married, largely due to men’s extramarital sexual relationships. Despite this clear risk, current efforts to prevent the spread of HIV fall far short of protecting married women.
Marital Sex and HIV/AIDSFile Under: Fact Sheets
Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Ethiopia
On July 5-9, 2010, three U.S. state legislators traveled to Ethiopia to better understand the role of U.S. foreign assistance aimed at improving the quality of reproductive health care. This report documents that trip and makes recommendations for improving effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls in Ethiopia.
Download this PDFFile Under: Research Documents
Fact Sheet: Female Condoms
The basics of the female condom, the most up-to-date statistics, its level of social acceptability, and the need for increased distribution of female condoms globally.
Download this PDFFile Under: Fact Sheets
A Woman-Centered Approach to the U.S. Global Health Initiative
President Obama's GHI calls for a "woman-centered approach" to development policy and programming. This policy brief defines what that means by identifying the key elements of such an approach, and best practices.
Download this PDFFile Under: Policy Briefs
Fact Sheet: About the Prevention Now! Campaign
Prevention Now! is a global campaign to ensure that governments and donor agencies provide funding to dramatically increase access to female condoms and other existing prevention options for women and men, to prevent the spread of HIV, reduce unintended pregnancy, and advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all people worldwide.
Download this PDFFile Under: Fact Sheets
Ficha técnica: Sobre a campanha
Prevention Now! (Prevenção Já!) é uma campanha global para assegurar que os governos e instituições doadoras forneçam financiamento para aumentar substancialmente o acesso ao preservativo feminino e outras opções de proteção para mulheres e homens, a fim de prevenir a disseminação do HIV, reduzir a gravidez não planejada e promover os direitos sexuais e reprodutivos de todas as pessoas no mundo inteiro.
Baixar arquivo PDFFile Under: Fact Sheets
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