If We Want Women’s Economic Empowerment, Then Let’s Talk About SRHR

Ensuring that women, girls and people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) have full autonomy over their lives and bodies is necessary for improved health and education outcomes as well as their freedom to participate in all aspects of economic life. Policy-makers interested in WEE must recognize that women require control over their most important productive asset: their bodies. Without this bodily autonomy, and the associated labour that it produces, economic empowerment is unachievable. Future guidance notes on WEE should explore these linkages, as this would strengthen Canada’s SRHR leadership, the Feminist International Assistance Policy and the outcomes of the WEE programs themselves.