'Global War on Women' Discussed at Athenaeum
By Allison Moser
Production Manager

Dr. Nafis Sadik spoke eloquently Wednesday night at the Athenaeum at Claremont McKenna College regarding the status of the reproductive rights of women around the world in her talk entitled "The Global War on Women." Her talk was co-sponsored by VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood, a 5 college pro-choice student organization.

Sadik has served as the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund and in her speech she outlined the ties between poverty, development, women's rights and the reproductive health.

She cited the 1974 International Conference on Population as laying the foundation for a consensus to deal with issues of reproductive health. At a conference in 1971 Sadik said that reproductive rights and health was "the single most divisive issue" with "barely agreement on how to discuss it."

As reported by Sadik, the 1.5 billion women in the world of childbearing age give birth to 247 children every minute, and due to a lack of proper health care 550,000 women die of pregnancy related causes every year. Of these deaths 90 percent occur in the developing world and 98 percent are preventable. The maternal death rate in sub-Saharan Africa is 1 in 12 women, while the estimated number of women in the developing world who suffer from injuries related to pregnancy and birth is one out of every four.

Sadik, who is currently a United Nations envoy concerning the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia, also outlined how women now face a greater threat of AIDS infection than men. 55 percent of new cases of infections in Africa are now women. Sadik also described that many women are also "infected by their only sexual partner" and "the proportion of infected wives is increasing" while "that of sex workers is decreasing."

"Millions of innocent women are paying the price of their partners' infidelity," said Sadik and are "in no position to defend themselves." Sadik's solution to these issues is to "empower young women." Sadik said that "male attitudes and behavior" that are motivated by a "desire to overprotect and mistrust" which lead to reluctance to provide for girls' reproductive health must change as well. "Successful policies," according to Sadik, "adjust the totalities of women's lives." She stressed that it is not acceptable for "women's reproductive health to come second to other needs."

Sadik then addressed the member states which are "ideological opponents of reproductive rights" and can be "counted on one hand."

"According to opponents" said Sadik, "reproductive health actually means abortion." Sadik called this perspective "ridiculous" as it ignores all which encompasses women's reproductive health. Sadik said that this attitude "reflects a deep seated fear of women and the p ower to reproduce" and "ignores consensus" reached by the international community regarding the need for improvement in women's reproductive health.

This consensus added Sadik, carries a "moral force" as well, "because it draws from all societies."

At a recent conference which confirmed this consensus the two dissenting voices were "the U.S. and the observer state, the Holy See."

Sadik also mentioned the recent U.S. withdrawal of 34 million dollars worth of funding for the United Nations Population Fund.

In addition to her service within the United Nations, Sadik was also the editor of An Agenda for People: UNFPA Through Three Decades (2002) and author of The State of the World: Lives Together, Worlds Apart- Men and Women in a Time of Change (2000).