What Does It Mean to Put Her First?

(Women Deliver believes that when the world invests in girls and women, everybody wins.

As a leading global advocate for girls’ and women’s health, right, and wellbeing, Women Deliver catalyzes action by bringing together diverse voices and interests to drive progress, with a particular focus on maternal, sexual, and reproductive health and rights.)


What Does It Mean to Put Her First?
Gender Equality




AS MANY OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL VOICES GATHER at Women Deliver to discuss how to put action behind the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those that support girls and women, we need to address the political, financial and cultural barriers that — despite the rhetoric — fall short of the promise to put her first.

Let’s start with the simple fact that less than 2¢ of every development dollar goes to girls — and that is a victory compared with a few years ago, when it was more like half a cent.

In this issue, Ambassador Cathy Russell discusses two bold initiatives, DREAMS and Let Girls Learn, that put resources where they can do good. But the US effort on girls and women is falling short in the area of saving women’s lives from unsafe abortion. The global health community has forwarded countless sign-on letters to President Obama to clarify the Helms Amendment once and for all.

President Obama doesn’t need the approval of Congress to implement the Helms Amendment so it covers safe abortion care in the cases of rape, incest, and when a woman’s life is at risk. He needs only his pen. And the data supports doing so. According to the WHO, nearly 50,000 women across the globe die each year because of an unsafe abortion, with the highest unsafe abortion rates occurring in South America and central Africa.

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http://womendeliver.org/2016/what-does-it-mean/