Thirty years ago, 189 countries gathered in Beijing at the Fourth World Conference on Women and adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This landmark global agreement provided a blueprint for UN Member States to work toward realizing the rights of all women and girls and achieving gender equality. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action identified 12 key areas where action was needed, including women’s health and women’s human rights. The declaration underscores that sexual and reproductive health is critical to the well-being of women and calls on governments to recognize bodily autonomy and reproductive rights as human rights.
On March 10, 2025, political leaders, policymakers and advocates gathered to open the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 69/Beijing+30), in New York, and to assess global progress made on these commitments. The commission convened at a time when human rights—including the right to health and sexual and reproductive rights—face existential threats around the world. Anti-rights ideologies have found fertile ground in places of power and influence. By censoring language, gutting civil-society funding and attacking science, large-scale efforts to stifle rights-based work are eroding hard-won progress on sexual and reproductive health and rights and on gender equality. The recent wholesale attack on foreign aid by the Trump administration threatens to dismantle critical health systems entirely.
The Beijing Declaration makes clear that sexual and reproductive health and rights are integral to gender equality. This understanding also guides the research and policy work of the Guttmacher Institute and underscores our conviction that a comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights, as described by the Guttmacher–Lancet Commission, is fundamental to advancing the rights of all women and girls, as well as societal health and well-being.
Guttmacher’s latest research confirms this relationship. Across 132 countries over the last 30 years, countries with higher levels of gender inequality also had higher rates of unintended pregnancy. For example, rates of unintended pregnancy were higher in countries where women had lower educational attainment than men.
Guttmacher has long documented the benefits that accrue from investing in sexual and reproductive health care, and the evidence is clear: Such investments yield enormous returns. They save lives, reduce health system costs, boost women’s empowerment and spur economic development. Progress made in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, respecting bodily autonomy, enabling people to choose their partners and improving access to contraception contributes to progress in gender equality.
Guttmacher welcomes the adoption of the Political Declaration marking the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, in which governments reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the Beijing framework and recognized the need for accelerated action to achieve progress on gender equality. This action includes protecting the right to health for all women and girls, maternal and neonatal health, and menstrual health and hygiene management. However, the Political Declaration falls short of recognizing sexual and reproductive health and rights as integral to the right to health. Achieving gender equality worldwide requires a holistic approach to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights and unequivocal commitment to advancing sexual and reproductive agency for all women and girls.
Guttmacher calls on leaders and policymakers to honor commitments made under the Beijing framework, to resist efforts to weaken human rights and to defend and advance evidence-based, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights as a cornerstone of gender equality.