Women’s Ability to Decide: Issue Brief on Indicator 5.6.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals

Women’s ability to make decisions on reproductive health, contraceptive use and sexual relations is pivotal to gender equality and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Stocked shelves and trained staff must be in place, but access depends on autonomy. Too often women are not able to exercise their autonomy on these issues due to harmful and discriminatory social norms and practices and their lack of agency and financial resources.

More resources on women's decision-making over their bodies and health, and on the Sustainable Development Goal Indicators measuring this, can be found here.