Around 67% of Irish women are using contraception, according to a new UN report which examines gender inequality around the world.
The report launched today looked at women’s reproductive rights, and found that inequality is highest in countries which have the least access to reproductive services.
The UN report “Worlds Apart” found that in most developing countries women in the poorest 20% of the population have the least access to reproductive health services.
While Ireland is a devloped country, there is only limited access to abortion and just 67% use contraception.
Minister for Health Promotion, Catherine Byrne, said: “The report itself ‘Worlds Apart’ means for all of us that really we aren’t worlds apart.
“Inequality is happening right throughout the world. It was happening in our own country in the past and continues to happen here.
“I think what is significant about it here today is the fact that we have come such a far distance.”
The Irish Family Planning Association’s Maeve Taylor says while Ireland has made progress, we do not compare well to other developed countries.
Ms Taylor said: “There are barriers, for example, to women’s and adolescent girls’ access to contraception.
“So while contraception, theoretically, is freely available, there are still cost barriers.”
In developing countries there are 89 million unintended pregnancies every year and 48 million abortions.
The UN says looking at the level of access to reproductive rights can highlight gender inequality, which is something everyone should be concerned about.
Jacqueline Mahon, from its population fund, said: “This is a reflection of women, particularly poor women and girls in terms of their age, in terms of location and in terms of their ability to exercise their rights to access and to utilise sexual reproductive health services.”
The report sets out 10 things that developed countries can do to ensure better access to reproductive health services throughout the world to tackle inequality.
- Ten actions for a more equal world:
