Most women in developing countries have a very long way to go before they can make their own decisions about fertility and family planning. Nearly 600,000 women die as a result of pregnancy each year, nearly all in developing countries. Twelve to 15 times that number suffer illness or injury as a result of pregnancy. Some 350 million women are still without access to a range of reproductive health services. But the fact that pregnancy means disease, disability or death for so many women is intolerable in a civilised world.
Women are at risk because they suffer routinely from discriminatory treatment.
Women are more likely to be poor than men, more likely to be illiterate. Women are also accustomed to violence, within and outside the home, and can expect little protection from the law. Female genital mutilation, one of the worst examples of societal violence against women, affects up to 2 million women every year. I have just come from Sudan, where 90 per cent of women have suffered in this way. Finally, women are more vulnerable to violence in war and civil conflict.