Gender equality is good not just for the economy, but also society's overall health
Paul Yip and Stephen Tsang say Hong Kong should learn from findings linking health with gender equality
One of the most exhaustive studies on the relationship between women and health was published in The Lancet recently. Analysing data from 32 countries, accounting for 52 per cent of the world's population, it also highlights women's contribution to the health care industry as both consumers and providers. It calculated their financial contribution to global health care to be around US$3 trillion, of which nearly half is unpaid and unrecognised.
The publication of this report is timely. Three years in the making, the study examines the complex links between the biological, economic and social factors that can improve the health of both women and society. The Lancet brought together leading thinkers and activists from around the world for the study, in a group headed by Dr Ana Langer of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The timing is perfect: the international community is now finalising its post-2015 development agenda dubbed the Sustainable Development Goals.
The report focuses on issues pertaining to low-to-middle-income economies, such as universal access to health care, maternal mortality and the availability of contraception. At first glance, this seems a world away from Hong Kong. On closer reading, however, the report is highly relevant for a city that mixes traditional Confucian values and modern Western culture with ease.
As the report puts it, when women are "valued, enabled, and empowered" in the social, environmental and economic domains, "gender equality and health can be achieved; and when women are healthy and have equity in all aspects of life, sustainable development will be possible".
This points the way towards a strategic vision for Hong Kong.
The study's authors saw women's health as encompassing more than the usual maternal disorders. Instead, they took a life-course approach. "Reproductive health interventions should not be isolated from the holistic needs of women's health. Comprehensive life-course perspective is necessary to effectively target causes of disorders that women face later in life," they said.
It is from there that we can see how Hong Kong is only just scratching the surface of what is truly needed. It is not only about having the best IVF centre, for instance, but about, as stated in the report, "recognition, valuation and compensation of women's roles … to achieve gender equality and maximise women's contributions to families, communities, and society".