ICPD Beyond 2014 Issue Brief: Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality

The hallmark commitment of the ICPD to women’s empowerment and gender equality was not only an aspiration for dignity, but pivotal to creating the enabling conditions in which half the global population will have the possibility to define the direction of their lives, expand their capabilities, and elaborate their chosen contributions to society. This Issue Brief discusses the intimate relationship between women’s relative freedoms in marriage, sexuality and reproduction, their gendered position in society, and their lifetime health and well-being. Gender equality is, first and foremost, a human rights imperative that is key to social and economic development. Empowered women are able to claim their rights and contribute to the health and productivity of their families and communities and, in so doing, improve the prospects of the next generation.