MacDonald said that lack of effective access to reproductive health services in the Philippines was "antithetical" to the country's struggle against poverty and "It seems to me extremely unlikely that the Philippines will be able to meet its commitment under the MDGs under the present policy." [ 73 ]  MacDonald noted that the  total fertility rate  for the richest quintile of the population is 2.0, while the total fertility rate of the poorest quintile is 5.9. The total fertility rate for women with a college education is 2.3, about half that of women with only elementary education (4.5). He mentioned that the lack of access to RH services is anti-women, citing the slow decline in the maternal mortality ratio in the Philippines. He also said surveys suggest that the total wanted fertility rate for the Philippines is 2.4 children, or below the actual TFR of 3.3 children. [ 73 ]


On January 31, 2011, six different bills were consolidated into a single RH Bill which was then unanimously approved for plenary debate by the House Committee on Population and Family Relations. On February 7, 2011, the bill was scheduled to go before the House Appropriations Committee. On February 16, 2011, the bill was endorsed by the House Appropriations Committee with amendment and referred back to the Population Committee for finalizing the language. [ citation needed ]


President  Noynoy Aquino  during the presidential campaign said that it confounds him why he is always associated with the RH Bill and reiterated that he is neither an author nor a co-author and did not sign the committee report regarding the bill. He said that "he will fully support the crafting of a firm policy that will address the serious problem on population" [ 19 ]  At the same time, Aquino said that "artificial contraception was a matter of choice and conscience and that health professionals who fool people into using artificial contraceptives should be penalized. As a Catholic, Aquino said he himself was not promoting artificial contraception but believes that the government should be able to provide it to Filipinos who ask for it". Aquino stressed, "I'm a Catholic, I'm not promoting it. My position is more aptly called responsible parenthood rather than reproductive health." [ 20 ]


According to  Rina Jimenez David  who is pro-RH, during the "Women Deliver Philippines" Conference held September 2010,  Dinky Soliman , Aquino's Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, said that "choice and access" constituted the keystone of the Aquino government's policy, reiterating the administration's support for the pending reproductive health bills. [ 74 ]


In December 2010, the Cabinet and the CBCP agreed to have a joint campaign providing full information on the advantages and risks of contraceptives, natural and artificial family planning and responsible parenthood. They have established a technical working group for this purpose. They also agreed that government will not be an "instrument to enforce or violate the conscience of the people about these issues." [ 75 ]


However, by April 2011 Aquino has given his full support to the entire RH Bill in a speech at the  University of the Philippines Diliman  and promised to push for its passage even at the "risk of excommunication." [ 76 ]


Senate President  Juan Ponce Enrile , Congressman  Roilo Golez  and Buhay party-list separately filed bills that seek to restrict abortion and birth control use. These bills have been seen either as a nullification of the RH Bill, its alternative, or as a way of achieving unity among the populace, since the RH Bill proponents have stated their concern in preventing abortion.


Presidential candidate  Gilbert Teodoro  or Gibo suggested a cash transfer from the government to individuals wanting access to family planning methods, whether natural or artificial. The individuals can then make use of the cash they receive to purchase birth control devices they may choose, thus guaranteeing freedom of choice. [ 77 ]


The Loyola School of Theology and the John J. Carroll Institute on State and Church Issues issued nine talking points on the RH Bill. Among other points, they proposed a study on the meaning of conception in the Constitution, and if it means fertilization, abortifacients "are to be banned even now and regardless of whether the RH Bill is passed". They also proposed "parallel programs for providing information and training, one for Natural Family Planning (NFP) and another for artificial methods of family planning". [ 78 ]  Columnist Jose Sison of the  Philippine Star  criticized that "a Catholic School of theology has actually proposed in public, the use of tax payers' money to train Filipinos to employ methods that are objectively and intrinsically evil" and cites "empirical evidence and scientific proofs confirming the harmful and evil effects of contraceptives to individuals and to society." [ 79 ]


In September 2010, Aquino, during this visit to the U.S., reiterated his stand that he is in favor of responsible parenthood and respects the decision of each couple as to the number of children they want, and if they need the government support for contraception, the government will provide it. This statement has created a furor as Catholic church leaders say that Aquino has sold out the Filipino soul in exchange for some "measly" aid from the U.S. The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference said that there could be an excommunication of the President if he continues his stance. Pro-RH Bill senators encouraged the President to be steadfast to do his duties towards the state. The President's spokesperson  Edwin Lacierda  explained that the President "has not changed his stand" and is reaching out to the prelates and said that he has not made any decision in support of the Reproductive Health Bill as he was still studying the document. Lacierda said that the Executive Branch "is not involved in the passage of the RH bill, saying the measure's fate rests solely on the legislative branch."


Filipino Freethinkers , an association of agnostics, atheists, progressives, etc., very active in the fight in favor of the RH bill, stepped up the pressure, creating more controversy that fired up renewed interest in the bill on both sides. On September 30, 2010, one of the freethinkers, Carlos Celdran staged a protest action against the Catholic Church, holding a sign which read "DAMASO," a reference to the villainous, corrupt clergyman  Father Dámaso  of the novel  Noli Me Tangere  by Filipino revolutionary writer  Jose Rizal , and shouting "stop getting involved in politics!" A fan page, Free Carlos Celdran was created in  Facebook , which generated 23,808 fans in 24 hours. Francisco Montalvan of the  Inquirer  said that in the end the Damasos are the scheming, corrupt and deceptive people, implying that the "pro-death advocates" are these, while the Cardinal Rosales who started a nationwide fund for the poor is very far from Damaso. Meanwhile, the  Imam  Council of the Philippines, the top leaders of the Moslem population which at 4.5 million constitutes 5% of the Philippine population, declared that they are against contraceptives since using them "underestimates God" and "makes one lose morality in the process."


During the first public hearing on Nov 24, the chair of the Committee on Population handling the bill said that there is no instruction from the Speaker of the House to expedite the bill. Upon the call of anti-RH congressmen, the Committee Chair decided to refer the bill also to the Committee on Health since the bill is about Reproductive Health. Leader of the pro-RH group, Elizabeth Ansioco, said that the bill is doomed if it is referred to the Committee on Health. Anti-RH Deputy Speaker Congressman Pablo Garcia said the members of the Committee on Health knew of the WHO announcement on the carcinogenicity of combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives.


House Speaker Belmonte said that Congress is not likely to rush the legislation of the bill and will tackle it in plenary early next year. Belmonte said it is better that highly contentious bills be given more attention.


On December 3, the Senate cut the proposed budget of P 880M for contraceptives down to P 8M for condoms since other contraceptives violated the Constitution's ban on abortifacients, and Senator Tito Sotto III said that his constituents never asked for contraceptives.


On July 27, 2012, the Speaker of the House decided to put to a vote, by August 7, 2012, on whether the debates have to be terminated.  Meanwhile, six co-authors of the bill withdrew support, with the head of the minority group of the house declaring that eight of their group are withdrawing their previous support for the bill. [ 80 ]


At 3 in the morning on December 13, 2012, the House of Representatives voted on second reading in favor of the bill with 113–109 while five representatives abstained. In the upper house, the Senate voted, on December 18, 2012, to pass the bill on second reading with 13–8, while Senators  Sergio Osmeña III  and  Lito Lapid  were absent. [ 81 ]


On the same day, both houses passed the bill on the third and final reading. Members of the House of Representatives voted 133–79, while seven representatives abstained. The Senate registered 13–8, the same result as the second reading. [ 82 ]


On December 19, 2012, both versions of the bill were passed to the Bicameral Committee to produce a final version to be signed by the President Aquino. The committee quickly passed the bill in just one session. It was transmitted back to the House of Representatives and the Senate, which both ratified the bill, with the Senate voting 11–5 in favor of ratification, and the House of Representatives voting via  voice vote [ 83 ] [ 84 ]


On December 21, 2012, President Aquino signed the bill into law, codifying the bill as Republic Act No. 10354, otherwise known as the "Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012". News of the signing was announced by House Majority Leader  Neptali Gonzales II  on December 28, 2012. [ 85 ]


In response to petitions challenging the law's constitutionality, the Supreme Court voted 10–5 on March 19, 2013, to issue a status quo ante order halting the implementation of the law for four months. [ 86 ]
Oral arguments were set for June 18 but postponed until July 9 after the Supreme Court received additional petitions and interventions. [ 87 ]


During oral arguments, several justices indicated that the court "does not seem to be the right forum–at least for now." It could not settle medical issues, such as whether any contraceptives to be made available were actually abortifacients. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said the court might have no choice but to exercise "judicial restraint" on the 15 petitions opposing the law. [ 88 ]


On July 16, the justices voted 8–7 to extend the status quo ante order, which would have expired the next day "until further orders effective immediately." [ 89 ]
Oral arguments concluded on August 27, with the petitioners against and for the law being instructed to submit memorandums within 60 days. [ 90 ]


On April 8, 2014, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law. The justices, however, struck down eight provisions of the law partially or in full. [ 2 ]


In 2015, the Supreme Court's issued a temporary restraining order on certain provisions of the law, forbidding the distribution of contraceptive implants. [ 91 ]


Notwithstanding the restraining order on certain methods of contraception, in September 2018, President Duterte decided to ensure, within 2018, free contraception for 6 million women with unmet needs for modern family planning – in 2018, for 2 million women identified as poor, and later for further 4 million women. [ 91 ]


Sexual and reproductive health and rights  or  SRHR  is the concept of  human rights  applied to  sexuality  and  reproduction . It is the recognition of every person’s right to make fully informed and self-determined decisions about their sexual participation, such as contraception use, sexual partners, and access to sexual health information and services, without discrimination, violence, and/or coercion. [ 1 ]  SRHR encompasses a combination of four distinct yet interconnected fields, which may exhibit varying degrees of distinction depending on the specific context. These four fields include  sexual health ,  sexual rights ,  reproductive health  and  reproductive rights . [ 2 ]  In the broad concept of SRHR, these four fields are treated as separate, but are inherently intertwined. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]


Distinctions between these four fields are not always made. Sexual health and reproductive health are sometimes treated as synonymous to each other, as are sexual rights and reproductive rights. In some cases, sexual rights are included in the term sexual health, or vice versa. [ 5 ]  Not only do different  non-governmental organisations  (NGOs) and governments organisations  [ citation needed ]  use different terminologies, but different terminologies are often used within the same organization.


Some of the notable global NGOs that fight for sexual and reproductive health and rights include  IPPF  (International Planned Parenthood Federation),  ILGA  (International Lesbian and Gay Alliance), WAS ( World Association for Sexual Health  - formerly known as World Association for Sexology), the Center for Health and Gender Equity, and International HIV/AIDS Alliance. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]


Government-run family planning programs first began in the 1950s [ where? ] . [ 8 ]  However, the main objectives of these programs were often centered around population control for economic growth and development. [ 9 ]  In 1994, the  International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)  in Cairo, Egypt marked a significant shift in perspective in regards to reproductive health and is considered to be the birth of the modern SRHR movement. [ 10 ]  Over the course of the conference, debates surrounding family planning shifted from that of economics to that of public health and human rights. [ 11 ]  A Program of Action (PoA) was developed by the end of the ICPD and was approved and adopted by 179 countries. [ 12 ]  The PoA affirmed sexual and reproductive health as a universal human right and outlined global goals and objectives for improving reproductive heath based around central themes of free choice, women's empowerment, and viewing sexual and reproductive health in terms of physical and emotional well-being. [ 11 ]  The PoA outlined a series of goals, based on a central mission of achieving universal access to reproductive health worldwide, that were aimed to be accomplished by 2015. [ 13 ]  In 2000, the  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  were developed, [ 14 ]  and although reproductive health was not explicitly stated as one of the goals, it became an important component to Goals 3, 4, and 5. [ 10 ]   In 2010, the original PoA was revisited by the  United Nations  and updated to reflect their objective of achieving universal reproductive health care by 2015. [ 12 ]  When the MDGs and ICPD PoA phased out in 2015, the next objectives for SRHR were folded into the  Sustainable Development Goals , the next iteration of the MDGs which outline objectives to combat poverty through 2030. [ 15 ]


The  World Health Organization [ 16 ]  defines sexual health as: "Sexual health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality. It requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."


Unlike the other three aspects of SRHR, the struggle for sexual rights include, and focus on,  sexual pleasure  and emotional sexual expression. One platform for this struggle is the WAS  Declaration of Sexual Rights .


The  World Association for Sexual Health  (WAS) was founded in 1978 by a multidisciplinary, world-wide group of NGOs to promote the field of sexology.


The Platform for Action from the  1995 Beijing Conference on Women  established that human rights include the right of women freely and without coercion, violence or discrimination, to have control over and make decisions concerning their own sexuality, including their own sexual and reproductive health. [ 17 ]  This paragraph has been interpreted by some countries [ 18 ]  as the applicable definition of women's sexual rights. The UN Commission on Human Rights has established that if women had more power, their ability to protect themselves against violence would be strengthened. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]


A significant shift occurred in the Association's history when in 1997, the World Congress of Sexology issued the Valencia Declaration of Sexual Rights. This was a visionary move on the part of María Pérez Conchillo and Juan José Borrás Valls (congress presidents) that shifted WAS to more of an advocacy organization championing sexual rights as fundamental to the promotion of sexual health and the field of sexology.  A press conference was held during the Congress to publicize the adoption of the Valencia Declaration and received world-wide attention.


This declaration has had world-wide impact in the recognition of the importance of sexual rights as human rights.  Besides the tremendous impact on  WHO , our [ who? ]  declaration provoked IPPF to issue its own declaration of Sexual Rights in 2008.


Subsequently, WAS made some revisions to the Valencia Declaration and proposed a WAS Declaration of Sexual Rights which was approved by the General Assembly at the 14th World Congress of Sexology (Hong Kong, 1999). The WAS adopted the  Declaration of Sexual Rights , which originally included 11 sexual rights. It was heavily revised and expanded in March 2014 by the WAS Advisory Council to include 16 sexual rights: [ 21 ]


This Declaration influenced  The Yogyakarta Principles  (which were launched as a set of international principles relating to sexual orientation and gender identity on 26 March 2007), especially on the idea of each person's  integrity , and right to sexual and  reproductive health . [ 22 ]


In 2015, the U.S. government said it would begin using the term "sexual rights" in discussions of human rights and global development. [ 23 ]


On 12 July 2024, the first UN resolution that included sexual rights was adopted at the 56th Session of the Human Rights Council(HRC). The HRC resolution “Human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS," calls for member states to develop "sexual and reproductive health services, as well as education programmes on sexual and reproductive health and rights". This is in contrast to previous documents and resolutions by the UN that exclude language around sexual rights. [ 24 ]


Within the framework of the  World Health Organization 's (WHO) definition of  health  as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,  reproductive health , or  sexual health / hygiene , addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system at all stages of life. [ 25 ]   Reproductive health, therefore, implies that people are able to have a responsible, satisfying and  safer sex life  and that they have the capability to reproduce and the  freedom to decide  if, when and how often to do so. One interpretation of this implies that men and women ought to be  informed  of and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of  birth control ; also access to appropriate  health care services  of  sexual ,  reproductive medicine  and implementation of health education programs to stress the importance of  women to go safely  through  pregnancy  and  childbirth  could provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. On the other hand, individuals do face inequalities in reproductive health services. Inequalities vary based on socioeconomic status, education level, age, ethnicity, religion, and resources available in their environment. It is possible for example, that low income individuals lack the resources for appropriate health services and the knowledge to know what is appropriate for maintaining reproductive health. [ 26 ]


Reproductive rights  are  legal rights  and freedoms relating to  reproduction  and  reproductive health . [ 27 ]  The  World Health Organization  defines reproductive rights as follows:


Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of  discrimination ,  coercion  and  violence . [ 28 ]


The area of sexual and reproductive rights is influenced by contextual cultural and social norms, socioeconomic factors and existing laws and regulations. The social-structural climate may affect both the access to and quality of sexual and reproductive health care and interventions. [ 29 ]


Despite frequent changes to frameworks, overall goals for SRHR remain little changed. As first stipulated at the ICPD, universal reproductive health care remains the ultimate objective, and with each new framework, targets are developed to progress towards this. [ 15 ]  In the original ICPD Program of Action, the primary call was for universal access to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, family planning and sexual health. [ 11 ]  Over time, these have expanded to include the right to access education regarding sexual and reproductive health, an end to  female genital mutilation , and increased women's empowerment in social, political, and cultural spheres. [ 10 ] [ 11 ]


Special goals and targets were also created to address adolescent sexual and reproductive health needs. Adolescents are often the most vulnerable to risks associated with sexual activity, including HIV, due to personal and social issues such as feelings of isolation, child marriage, and stigmatization. [ 30 ]  Governments realized the importance of investing in the health of adolescents as a means of establishing future well-being for their societies. [ 31 ]  As a result, the  Commission on Population and Development  developed a series of fundamental rights for adolescents including the right to comprehensive sex education, the right to decide all matters related to their sexuality, and access to sexual and reproductive health services without discrimination (including safe abortions wherever legal). [ 31 ]


Tampon tax  (or  period tax ) is a popular term used to call attention to  tampons , and other  feminine hygiene  products, being subject to  value-added tax  (VAT) or  sales tax , unlike the  tax exemption  status granted to other products considered basic necessities. Proponents of tax exemption argue that tampons,  menstrual pads ,  menstrual cups  and comparable products constitute basic, unavoidable necessities for women, and any additional taxes constitute a  pink tax .


Proponents of tax exemption argue that tampons,  sanitary napkins ,  menstrual cups  and other products which serve the basic menstrual cycle constitute unavoidable necessities for women and should be classified alongside other unavoidable, tax-exempt necessities, such as groceries and personal medical items. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]  The  BBC  estimates that women need to use  feminine hygiene  products for about a week each month for about 50 years. [ 3 ]  According to the  American Medical Association  over 17,000 menstrual hygiene items are needed in a user's lifetime amounting to a cost of around 2,000 dollars. [ 4 ]  While  sales tax  policy varies across jurisdictions, these products were typically taxed at the same rate as non-essential goods, such as in the United States, while other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, reduced or eliminated their general  consumption tax  on sanitary products. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  When asked about equivalent exemptions for men, proponents argue that no male products,  condoms  included, are comparable to feminine hygiene products, since menstruation is biological and "feminine hygiene is not a choice". [ 1 ]  However, others argue that other basic necessities such as  toilet paper  are still taxed in many countries, for example in the UK at 20%. [ 5 ]  As the vast majority of consumers of feminine hygiene products are women, the increased cost has been criticized as being discriminatory against women. [ 6 ]  The tampon tax is not a special tax levied directly on feminine hygiene products. [ 2 ]


Since about 2004, many countries have abolished or reduced sales taxes for tampons and pads, including Kenya, Canada, India, Colombia, Australia, Germany, and Rwanda.


Below are examples of countries that have or used to have a tampon tax (ordered by most recent changes to the country's tax system first):


In 2016, the United Kingdom proposed that member states should be allowed to decide whether to continue to apply VAT to menstrual hygiene products. This led to the introduction of Directive 2022/542/EC. This modified Annex III of Directive 2006/112/EC allowing "pharmaceutical products used for medical and veterinary purposes, including products used for contraception and female sanitary protection, and absorbent hygiene products" to be zero rated. [ 17 ]


In the time between the proposal and the legislation, some EU countries made use of their limited number of reduced rate items to decrease taxes on sanitary items.


There is a zero rate of VAT applied to most women's sanitary products in the UK. [ 8 ] [ 9 ]  The United Kingdom had levied a  value-added tax  on sanitary products since it joined the  European Economic Community  in 1973. This rate was reduced to 5% specifically for sanitary products in 2000 with lobbying from  Member of Parliament   Dawn Primarolo  saying that this reduction was "about fairness, and doing what we can to lower the cost of a necessity". [ 20 ]  This is the lowest rate possible under the  European Union 's  value added tax law , which as of 2016 [update]  does not allow a reduction to zero rates. The only goods that can be zero rated are those with historic zero rates that have been applied continually since before 1991. [ 21 ]  The  UK Independence Party  raised the issue in the  2015 general election  with promised to withdraw from the European Union and allow the zero rate. Prime Minister  David Cameron  commented, when prompted, that the tampon tax campaign was "long-standing" and a complicated issue within the European Union. [ 3 ]  In England, one in ten women between 14 and 21 cannot afford menstrual management products. [ 22 ] [ 23 ]


Laura Coryton  led a "Stop taxing periods, period" campaign with an online petition to have the European Union remove the value-added tax for sanitary products. [ 24 ]  Her petition was highlighted by a further protest in London  [ 25 ]  and a sister march in Bristol headed by the groups, No More Taboo and Period Watch. [ 26 ]  The London march on April 2, 2015, led by Lucy Whitehill, garnered support from 2,500 protesters, many wearing bloodied white pants, chanting outside Downing Street. [ 27 ]  The slogan "Tampons not a necessity? Then welcome to the world where we don't wear them" made the headlines, [ 28 ] [ 29 ]  with  Russell Howard  focusing on the viral placard, "The Taxman can suck my cl*t", [ 30 ] [ 31 ]   Ed Miliband  called the tax ridiculous [ 32 ]   and  Caroline Criado Perez  demanded the tax to be abolished. [ 33 ]  Following the protest the  University of Sheffield  were the first to cull the tax in their university shops. [ 34 ]  In November 2015 Charlie Edge and Ruth Howarth free-bled in front of Parliament to further drive awareness. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] [ 37 ]   George Osborne  mentioned the petition by name in his 2015  Autumn Statement  pledge to end the tampon tax at the European Union level. The petition platform's CEO cited the campaign as an example of successful  clicktivism , [ 38 ]  with over 320,000 signatures. [ 39 ] [ 40 ]  In March 2016, Parliament created legislation to eliminate the tampon VAT, following a budget amendment by opposition Labour MP  Paula Sherriff . [ 41 ] [ 39 ] [ 42 ]  It was expected to go into effect by April 2018 but did not do so; several British women protested for it publicly while displaying blood stains from their periods. [ 1 ]  On October 3, 2018, new EU VAT rules were put forward by the European Parliament to allow EU countries to stop taxing sanitary products, but these did not come into effect until 2022. [ 43 ] [ 44 ]  The  UK left the EU  in January 2020, and following the end of the transition period (at the beginning of 2021) the tampon tax was abolished in the UK, meaning there is now a zero rate of VAT applying to women's sanitary products. [ 8 ] [ 9 ]  Research published by  Tax Policy Associates  in November 2022 suggested that savings resulting from the abolition of the tax had been retained by retailers, rather than passed onto women. [ 45 ]   Period underwear  remained subject to the tax until 2024 [ 46 ]  and was included in the exemption after campaigners raised the issue. [ 47 ]


In July 2017, a pilot programme began in Scotland to have free sanitary products available at schools and food banks for women who cannot afford them. [ 48 ]  The pilot scheme was launched for six months in  Aberdeen , with £42,500 of funding from the devolved  Scottish Government  in order to address the growing scandal of " period poverty ". It was believed 1,000 girls would benefit from the scheme, as there were reports of teenage girls using tissues, toilet roll, torn T-shirts, and even newspaper as makeshift sanitary products, with some girls even skipping school altogether. It was decided to launch the scheme to improve attainment and school attendance, as well as improve confidence amongst teenage girls during their period; Scotland is believed to be the first country in the world to give out free sanitary products as part of a government-sponsored initiative. Further to this half-year pilot programme, Scotland's opposition Labour Party stated their intention to introduce a bill to make this permanent.


A study by the WHO and UNICEF showed that one out of five women in Scotland have been forced to improvise with items including toilet paper and old clothes because of the high cost of commercial products.


The  Scottish government  in 2019 began providing free sanitary products for poorer students at schools, with hopes that this would be rolled out across the entire nation. [ 49 ] [ 50 ]


A bill to make period products available for free to everyone who needs them received preliminary approval in the Scottish Parliament in February 2020 [ 51 ]  and Members for the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) approved  The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act  on Tuesday 24 November 2020. Local authorities in Scotland now have a legal duty to ensure that tampons and sanitary pads are available freely to "anyone who needs them". The bill was introduced by Labour MSP  Monica Lennon  who began campaigning to end period poverty in 2016. She stated that "Periods don't stop for pandemics and the work to improve access to essential tampons, pads and reusables has never been more important". [ 52 ] [ 9 ]  The measure requires the provision of free period products in schools, colleges, and universities, as well as football clubs, restaurants, pubs, and public concert halls. [ 53 ]


The act will impose a legal duty on the local authorities to make period products available free of cost. With this act  Scotland  became the first country in the world to provide universal access to free period products. [ 54 ] [ 55 ]


Menstrual hygiene products are considered by many states within the United States as "tangible individual property" resulting in additional sales tax. This additional tax increases the overall price and further limits accessibility to menstrual hygiene products to lower-income women. These products are classified as medical devices but are not eligible for purchase through government funded assistance programs. [ 56 ]


In the United States, almost all states tax "tangible individual property" but exempt non-luxury "necessities": groceries,  prescriptions ,  prosthetics , agriculture supplies, and sometimes clothes—the exemptions vary between states. [ 1 ]  Most states charge sales tax for women's pads and tampons. [ 57 ]   Five states do not have a state sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon), and as of June 2019 [update] , thirteen US states specifically exempted essential hygiene products: Utah, [ 58 ]  Ohio, [ 59 ]  California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 60 ] [ 61 ] [ 62 ]  California repealed the tax in its 2019 state budget, but only for the two-year duration of the budget. Seven other states have introduced such legislation, most recently Nebraska, Virginia, and Arizona. [ citation needed ]  In November 2021, Michigan ended its tampon tax. [ 63 ]


Many federal assistance programs such as  SNAP  (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and  WIC  (Women, Infants and Children) do not allow the use of those funds for products such as pads or tampons despite the products' classification as medical devices. The IRS does not classify female products as medical devices, thus blocking women from buying them with pre-tax dollars in both flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts. [ 64 ]


Recently, there is a movement to ensure access to the basic necessity of menstrual products for women.


The movement of menstrual equity has been gaining traction in recent years. This movement is based on the central tenet that period products should be affordable and accessible to women who menstruate. The movement aims to reduce the stigma around menstruation that has prevented legislative action toward achieving menstrual equity and reproductive education. Significant barriers to menstrual equity are the costs that affect women in shelters, low-income women and their daughters, LGBTQ people with uteruses, and those facing  housing insecurity . [ 65 ]


In 2019, House representative  Grace Meng  introduced the Menstrual Equity for All bill. The bill would ensure menstrual products are free and un-rationed in schools, jails, shelters, and in all public federal buildings with federal funds. This bill proposes that menstrual products are covered under Medicaid to limit financial barriers for low-income women. The bill would also mandate large employers to free period products to employees. [ 66 ]  Since being introduced in the House, the bill is under review by the appropriate subcommittee. [ 67 ]


There have been some changes to the tampon taxes, but most of these changes are at the state or city level. On a smaller scale, individual cities have also changed their laws in favor of eliminating the tampon tax (e.g.  Denver, Colorado ). [ 68 ]  Maine eliminated the tax in 2022. [ 69 ]


California Assemblywoman  Cristina Garcia  reported that California women each pay roughly  US$ 7 per month over 40 years, constituting US$20 million in annual taxes. Garcia and  Ling Ling Chang  proposed a bill to remove the tampon tax in early 2016. At this time, only a handful of the country's states exempted tampons, and several others had no state sales tax. Garcia held that women were taxed "for being women" and bore an economic burden for having no other choice but to buy these products. Garcia and Chang added that the tax was "regulatory discrimination" that disproportionately affected poor women and women of color, and that it likely persisted due to  social taboos  against discussing menstruation. [ 1 ]  Both houses of the  California State Legislature  voted to exempt tampons from taxation in June 2016, [ 2 ]  but the bill was vetoed by the state's governor,  Jerry Brown , three months later. [ 70 ]


California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed AB-1561 due to the potential loss of money in taxing feminine hygiene products. In response, Cristina Garcia co-authored AB-0479: Common Cents Tax Reform Act with Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, which is a new measure outlining a solution to offset the feminine product and diaper tax exemption by increasing the tax on hard liquor. This bill was ultimately gutted and amended with provisions on workers' compensation. [ 71 ]


In 2017, California State Legislature passed AB 10 (Ch. 687) requiring public middle schools and high schools where at least 40% of students meet the federal poverty level to stock half of the restrooms with free tampons and sanitary napkins. The law was passed in an effort to eliminate the cost burden and keep low-income students in schools during their menstrual cycle. [ 72 ] [ 73 ]


Companies involved in supplying the necessary feminine hygiene products (tampons and pads) for complete menstrual care in the restrooms of schools include WAXIE and Hospeco. They also supply various options for menstrual product dispensers that have a time delay mechanism to prevent products from being overused and/or abused. [ 74 ] [ 75 ]


In June 2019, menstrual products were exempted from the sales tax in the state budget, but only for the two-year duration of the budget. [ 62 ]


In July 2021, California passed AB 150, making the menstrual-product tax exemption permanent. [ 76 ]


In September 2021, California passed AB367, requiring public schools grades 6–12, California State University and community college districts, as well as encouraging the Regents of the University of California and private institutions of higher learning to provide free menstrual products. [ 77 ]


In July 2016, New York State exempted feminine hygiene products from taxation, reducing the state's tax revenue by an estimated US$10 million annually. [ 2 ]  In the court case of the "Tampon Tax", attorney Zoe Salzman defended the movement of repealing the taxes on feminine menstrual products. [ 78 ]  Part of the case was also a plea for refunding the women for all of the taxes that they had to pay on feminine menstrual products in the past. [ 78 ]  Ultimately the case ruled to repeal the taxes on feminine menstrual products, but not to refund the women of New York the previous taxes. Connecticut and Illinois also removed their tax in 2016, with Florida following suit in 2017. [ 79 ] [ 80 ]


A 2018 empirical study on New Jersey's 2005 tax break on menstrual products found that "repealing tampon taxes removes an unequal tax burden and could make menstrual hygiene products more accessible for low-income consumers". [ 81 ]  The study utilized data from more than 16,000 purchases in 2004–2006 made in New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, using these latter nearby states as the control group. Through a differences-in-differences approach, they found that after the repeal, consumer prices on menstrual products decreased by 7.3%, relative to the control states. This was greater than the 6.9% sales tax, suggesting that the consumers benefitted from the tax break. Upon further analysis, the study also found that the decrease in consumer prices was greater for low-income consumers than high-income consumers (3.9% decrease versus 12.4% decrease). [ 81 ]  This suggests that low-income consumers received the most benefit from the tax break, while high-income consumers shared the benefit with producers of menstrual products.


On July 1, 2020, Washington became the 20th state to remove tax from menstrual products. [ 82 ]


On November 5, 2021, Michigan Governor  Gretchen Whitmer  signed into law bill SB 153 [ 83 ]  repealing the tax on feminine hygiene products. The bill went into effect 90 days later on February 3, 2022. [ 84 ]


Many states that have tampon taxes have tried to repeal or eliminate the tax via legislation and have been denied. US states such as Tennessee, Arizona, and Virginia have introduced legislation. [ 85 ] [ 86 ]  In Utah, Representative  Susan Duckworth  introduced a bill that would have exempted menstrual hygiene products from sales tax, titled "Hygiene Tax Act". [ 85 ]  Products exempted included such items as tampons and disposable diapers. [ 85 ]  Legal scholars point out that when the bill was sent to the Utah taxation committee to be voted on, eight of the eleven men voted against the bill. [ 85 ]  In November 2019, during a “special legislative session” and a Governor's signature, Utah became the thirteenth US state to abolish the tampon tax, effective from January 1, 2020. [ 58 ]


In November 2019, Ohio became the 12th US state to repeal the pink or tampon tax. [ 59 ]  Both Representatives  Greta Johnson  and  Brigid Kelly  introduced the bills for years and finally became law in November 2019 – that would exempt feminine menstrual products from the state's sales tax. [ 85 ]  Legal scholars note that Ohio women still have to pay around four million dollars each year due to taxes on these items as they are not exempt from local taxes. [ 85 ]


In Tennessee, the same bill was sent to the Senate and House to reduce the 7% sales tax on feminine products, defined as "any product to be used by women with respect to menstruation ... [including] tampons, pads, liners, [and] cups". [ 85 ] [ 86 ]  Both the Senate and the House did not pass the bill. [ 86 ]


In Virginia, Delegate Mark Keam introduced House Bill 952. The bill wanted to exempt the same products as Ohio and Utah from the 5.3% sales tax. [ 86 ]  Like the other two states, the bill was not passed. [ 86 ]


In 2004, Kenya became the first country to exempt menstrual products from Value Added Tax. [ 87 ]  In 2011, Kenya exempted imported menstrual products from excise tax. [ 88 ]  In 2016, Kenya exempted the raw materials used for the manufacture of menstrual products from the 16% value added tax (VAT) and 25% excise tax. [ 89 ] [ 90 ]


The government also allocated Ksh 240M to provision of free sanitary pads to girls in public governmental schools through the National Sanitary Towel Programme. This increased to Ksh 400M in 2015. However, this funding declined to 260M in 2022/2023 budget. [ 91 ]


In 2016, the Kenyan parliament introduced an amendment to the Basic Education Act which guaranteed the provision of free, sufficient and quality sanitary towels to every girl child registered and enrolled in a public basic education institution who has reached puberty and the provision of a safe and environmentally sound mechanism for disposal of the sanitary towels. [ 92 ]  These began to be distributed in 2018. [ 93 ] [ 94 ]  The government established a Menstrual Hygiene Management Policy in 2019. [ 95 ]


In January 2015, the Canadian government recognised sanitary products as an essential item, ending the GST tax on all sanitary products. [ 96 ]  The Canadian government is currently [ when? ]  debating whether to make menstrual products free in the workplace. [ 97 ]  The Government of Canada has published a Notice of Intent to the Canadian Gazette seeking feedback on providing free products in federally regulated workplaces; stakeholders and Canadians were able to feedback until July 2, 2019. [ 97 ]  Providing free menstrual products in workplaces is expected to bring better health and workplace productivity and reduced stigma around the conversation of menstruation. [ 97 ]  Under Part II of the Canada labour Code, employers are already required to provide toilet paper, soap, warm water, and a way to dry hands. [ 98 ]  Women or gender non-conforming persons who require menstrual products make up 40% of the federal workforce, [ 96 ]  and the financial burden of sanitary products rests entirely on them, burdening or severely negatively impacting those who need them, adding required sanitation products will allow for greater equality in the workplace and more opportunity for people with lower income. [ 98 ]


On May 28, 2015, the Canadian Federal Government voted in favour of lifting the tampon tax federally. [ 97 ]  The tax was ultimately repealed July 1, 2015. [ 99 ]  This was inspired by an online petition organized by Canadian Menstruators, an online advocacy group, which thousands of Canadians signed and presented to the Federal Government of Canada in Ottawa. [ 100 ]


Critics have pointed out that sanitary products are still taxed under tariffs under Canadian tariff laws. [ 96 ]


In China, menstrual products are subject to a 13% sales tax, the same as for most consumer items. [ 101 ]


Approximately 88% of women in India are unable to acquire safe menstrual products because of a lack of capital access. The menstrual products are not thought to be essential, therefore overpriced, and out of reach for over 70% of Indian women who menstruate. [ 102 ]


Supporters of the exemption of said taxes are calling their efforts "menstrual equity", explaining it as a social movement that strives for feminine products like tampons to be considered necessities. Activists are often led by members of the government. At the beginning of 2016, councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland led a movement with a tampon tax pilot project ultimately providing free pads and tampons at a local high school in Queens, New York. Ferreras-Copeland's effort has now been expanded into 25 different schools around New York City. Other democrats including Ydanis Rodriguez and council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito are advocating for state legislature to stop taxing sanitary products.


Free the Tampon, an advocate for free menstrual products estimates that it would cost less than $5 a year per user to provide tampons and pads in restrooms at schools and businesses. [ 57 ] [ 103 ]


Activists with  United for Access  organized a petition and march [ 104 ]  to put pressure on the US Department of Education to eradicate period poverty in the US. They called on the government to treat period products as health necessities, support policies that protect students who menstruate, and fund period products in school bathrooms. The campaign was built in partnership with the period poverty-focused nonprofit founded by social entrepreneur,  Nadya Okamoto . [ 105 ]  Okamoto is also the author of the book,  Period Power: a Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement , which focuses heavily on advocating against the "tampon tax". [ 106 ]  When Okamoto was 21 years old, she led her organization to host the first-ever National Period Day on October 19, 2019, which focused on pushing legislators to eliminate the "tampon tax". [ 107 ]  On National Period Day 2019, the organization supported local organizers to host 60 rallies in all 50 states. [ 108 ]


Slovakia levies a 20% tax on sanitary products—the basic goods rate. A Slovakian film director commented that there are no plans to change the law and that east Europe missed elements of feminist change while living under communist government. [ 3 ]


Other campaigns have emerged such as #Freeperiods encouraging state policies to provide menstrual products. #Freeperiods is a campaign started by Amika George who started a petition aimed at encouraging the UK government to provide low-income families with subsidised menstrual products. [ 109 ]  This campaign since then has grown exponentially. The Free periods initiative has recently paired up with The Red Box Project, which is a community-based initiative that provides free menstrual products and underwear to young women who struggle financially. The Red Box Projects notes the importance of their initiative as according to #Freeperiods one out of 10 girls cannot afford to purchase menstrual products and over 137,000 girls have missed school due to period poverty. [ 110 ]


Within the Global North, tampon activism has been strong and well-supported. Countries are moving forward and either removing tampon taxes or providing free menstrual products. In 2018 the Scottish Government moved forward and became the first country to provide free menstrual products for students at schools and universities. [ 110 ]  Additionally, other countries have moved forward in implementing policies around providing sanitary products and abolishing taxes on menstrual products. Kenya and Uganda moved forward and removed taxes on these products. Furthermore, the Kenyan government also provides funding to schools that provide pads. [ 111 ]


" War on women " is a slogan in United States politics used to describe certain  Republican Party  policies and legislation as a wide-scale effort to restrict  women's rights , especially  reproductive rights , including abortion. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]  Prominent  Democrats  such as  Nancy Pelosi [ 5 ]  and  Barbara Boxer , [ 6 ]  as well as  feminists , have used the phrase to criticize proponents of these laws as trying to force their  social views  on women through legislation. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  The slogan has been used to describe Republican policies in areas such as access to reproductive health services, particularly  birth control  and  abortion  services; the definition of  rape  for the purpose of the public funding of abortion; [ 11 ] [ 12 ]  the prosecution of criminal  violence against women ; and  workplace discrimination  against women. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ]


While used in other contexts, and prior to 2010, [ 17 ] [ 18 ]  it became a common slogan in American political discourse after the  2010 congressional elections . [ 19 ] [ 20 ]  The term is often used to describe opposition to the  contraceptive mandate  in  Obamacare  and policies to defund  women's health  organizations that perform abortions, such as  Planned Parenthood . The concept again gained attention in the  2016 U.S. presidential election , when Republican nominee  Donald Trump  drew notice for a history of inflammatory statements and actions toward women. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ]


The phrase and the concept have been criticized by Republicans and some  anti-abortion  Democrats. [ 26 ]   Republican National Committee  chairman  Reince Priebus  described it as an over-simplified fiction advanced by Democrats and the media [ 27 ] [ 28 ]  while other Republicans contended that such rhetoric was used as a distraction from President  Barack Obama  and the Democrats' handling of the economy. [ 29 ] [ 30 ]  In August 2012,  Todd Akin 's controversial  comments regarding pregnancy and rape  sparked renewed media focus on the concept. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ]  Republicans have tried to turn the phrase against Democrats by using it to argue hypocrisy for not critiquing sex scandals of members within their party who have cheated, sexted, and harassed women, and for not supporting bills to combat  sex-selective abortion . [ 34 ] [ 35 ] [ 36 ] [ 37 ]


In 1989, radical feminist  Andrea Dworkin [ 38 ]  wrote in a book introduction about "war on women" [ 39 ]  and, in 1997, she collected that and other writings in  Life and Death , for which the subtitle was  Unapologetic Writings on the Continuing War Against Women . [ 40 ]  Feminist  Susan Faludi 's 1991 book  Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women , argued that throughout the 1980s the media created a "backlash" against the feminist advances of the 1970s. [ 17 ]  Former Republican political consultant  Tanya Melich 's 1996 memoir,  The Republican War Against Women: An Insider's Report from Behind the Lines , describes the incorporation of the  anti-abortion  movement and opposition to the  Equal Rights Amendment  by Republicans as a divergence from feminist causes. [ 18 ]


George W. Bush 's administration met with resistance from feminists and women's rights activists throughout his Presidency. [ 41 ] [ 42 ]  In 2004  The Feminist Press  published  Laura Flanders ' collection of essays  The W Effect: Bush's War On Women . [ 43 ]  The same year,  Sylvia Federici 's  Caliban and the Witch  used "war on women" as a framework for analysis of the restructuring of gender relations in early modern Europe. [ 44 ]  In 2006 economist Barbara Finlay's critique of the Bush administration's treatment of women was published by  Zed Books  under the title  George W. Bush and the War on Women: Turning Back the Clock on Progress . [ 45 ] [ 46 ]


In the  2010 midterm elections , the  Republican Party  (GOP) won the majority in the House of Representatives. On January 4, 2011, the day after Congress convened, Kaili Joy Gray of the liberal  Daily Kos  wrote an opinion piece titled "The Coming War on Women". [ 47 ]  In the article, she outlined many of the measures that Republicans intended to push through the House of Representatives, including  personhood  laws,  fetal pain  laws, and the effort to defund Planned Parenthood. [ 47 ]  In February 2011, an AlterNet article by Sarah Seltzer and Lauren Kelley entitled "9 New laws in the GOP's War on Women" began to document state-level legislation restricting abortion access and rights. That same month, New York Representative  Jerrold Nadler  referred to the proposed  No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act , one of the Congress's first actions and one that would have changed policy to allow only victims of "forcible rape" or child sex abuse to qualify for Medicaid funding for abortion, as "an entirely new front in the war on women and their families". [ 11 ]  Florida Representative and Chair of the  Democratic National Committee   Debbie Wasserman Schultz  began using the term "war on women" in March 2011. [ 11 ]


The "war on women" slogan was used often when describing the unprecedented rise in the passage of provisions related to women's health and reproductive rights in 2011 and 2012. [ 48 ] [ 49 ]  In 2011, state legislatures across the United States introduced over 1100 provisions related to women's health and reproductive rights, [ 48 ] [ 51 ]  and in the first quarter of 2012 an additional 944 provisions were introduced in state legislatures, half of which would restrict access to abortion. Legislation has focused on mandatory ultrasounds, narrowing the time when abortions may be performed and limiting insurance coverage of abortion. [ 49 ] [ 52 ]


Democratic strategist  Zerlina Maxwell  wrote an editorial for  U.S. News & World Report  in which she cited a Guttmacher Institute analysis showing state legislatures enacted 135 pieces of legislation affecting women's reproductive rights as evidence that the "Republican 'War on Women' is no fiction." [ 10 ]  The analysis found that between 2000 and 2011, the number of states hostile to  abortion rights  have increased markedly, and that in 2011 there was an unprecedented rise in the number of provisions passed by state legislatures restricting abortion. [ 50 ]


Many states have adopted model legislation written by  Americans United for Life , an  anti-abortion  advocacy group. [ 53 ] [ 54 ]  In June 2011,  Charmaine Yoest  and Denise M. Burke of Americans United, acknowledged the expression in an op-ed for  The Wall Street Journal , writing that "Indiana is being threatened with the loss of federal funding for health care and being held up to scorn as having 'declared war on women.'" [ 55 ]


In 2011 and 2012, "war on women" was used to describe the legislation passed by many states requiring that women seeking abortions first undergo government-mandated  ultrasounds . [ 56 ]  Some states require that women view the image of the fetus and others  require that women be offered the opportunity  to listen to the fetal heartbeat. Since many women's pregnancies are not far enough along to get an image via a traditional ultrasound,  transvaginal ultrasounds , which involve the physician inserting a probe into the woman's vagina, may be required, but these requirements vary state to state. [ 57 ] [ 58 ]  Critics have questioned the value of having a medically unnecessary procedure, and characterized it as similar to some states' legal definition of rape. [ 59 ]  Writer Megan Carpentier underwent the procedure and indicated that although it was not comparable to being raped, the process was "uncomfortable to the point of being painful, emotionally triggering... and something that no government should force its citizens to undergo to make a political point." [ 60 ] [ 61 ]  However, in an article critical of the assumptions of those on both sides of the issue, sociologist Tracy Weitz, who opposes mandatory ultrasound, notes that "the use of trans-vaginal ultrasounds is routine among abortion providers." [ 62 ]


Virginia State legislators passed a bill in 2012 requiring women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. [ 63 ]  The legislation, signed by Governor  Bob McDonnell , would require that the provider of an abortion make a copy of the fetal image and include it in the file of the patient. [ 64 ]  In  Louisiana , where pregnant women are already required to view ultrasounds of their fetuses before receiving an abortion, lawmakers proposed a bill that would require them to listen to the embryonic/fetal heartbeat as well. [ 65 ]   Pennsylvania  Governor  Tom Corbett  drew criticism when he said of his state's new mandatory transvaginal ultrasound law that "You can't make anybody watch, okay? Because you just have to close your eyes. As long as it's on the exterior and not the interior." [ 66 ]


In June 2013, Representative  Trent Franks  of Arizona, passed a national bill in the House Judiciary Committee that would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. The bill did not include exceptions for rape, incest or health of the mother. [ 67 ] [ 68 ] [ 69 ]  In responding to the bill's lack of exception for rape victims, Franks stated that "the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low," which was compared to the  controversial statements made by Todd Akin ; studies show that the incidence of pregnancy from rape is approximately equal to or higher than the rate from consensual sex. [ 68 ] [ 70 ]  Afterwards, the House Rules Committee added exceptions for rape and incest. [ 71 ]   Georgia  legislators passed HB 954, a "fetal pain bill" criminalizing abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy. The bill, which does not contain exemptions for rape or  incest , has been referred to as the "women as livestock bill" by opponents [ 72 ]  after Representative  Terry England  made a comparison between women seeking abortions for  stillborn  fetuses to delivering calves and pigs on a farm. [ 73 ]


In April 2012,  Arizona  passed legislation banning abortions occurring 20 weeks after a woman's  last menstrual period . A judge from the District Court initially upheld this ban, but the  Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals  ruled in August 2012 that the ban could not be enforced until an appeal on the law had been decided. [ 74 ]  The Ninth Circuit then struck down the law as unconstitutional in May 2013. [ 75 ]  Eight other states, including  Nebraska , [ 76 ]  Alabama, [ 77 ]  Georgia, [ 78 ]  Indiana, [ 79 ]  Idaho [ 80 ]  and Oklahoma, [ 81 ]  have passed such bills; unlike Arizona, the gestational age in these states is calculated from fertilization (20 weeks post-fertilization-which means 22 weeks LMP). [ 82 ]  In 2013, Idaho's ban was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge. [ 83 ]  States such as  Ohio  have proposed  six-week abortion bans , the earliest time embryonic or fetal cardiac activity can usually be detected. [ 84 ]


In 2011, voters in Mississippi rejected Initiative 26, a measure that would have declared that human life begins at fertilization, which had drawn support from conservative Republicans and Democrats. Critics of the initiative indicated that the law would have made abortion illegal even in cases where the  mother's life  is in danger. [ 85 ]


Since the mid-1990s, the regulatory burden on abortion providers has increased. [ 86 ]   TRAP laws  (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) have been passed in numerous states. [ 87 ]  In 2015, the United States Supreme Court agreed to an emergency appeal regarding a Texas law that would have shut down 10 of the remaining 19 abortion clinics within the state. Sometime in the fall of 2015, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear the clinics' full appeal of the ruling, which, if held, would be the largest abortion case before the Supreme Court in nearly 25 years. [ 88 ]


In February 2011, South Dakota state legislators considered a bill that would expand that state's definition of justifiable homicide to include killings committed by a party other than a pregnant woman for the purpose of preventing harm to a fetus, a measure interpreted by critics as allowing the killing of abortion providers. [ 89 ]  Similar legislation was considered in Iowa. [ 90 ]


Several state legislatures have passed or are considering legislation to prevent parents from suing doctors who fail to warn them of fetal problems, which are sometimes known as  wrongful birth  lawsuits. Some of the laws, such as one proposed in Arizona, make exceptions for "intentional or grossly negligent acts", while others do not. [ 91 ] [ 92 ] [ 93 ]


A  Kansas  bill passed March 2012 requires doctors to warn women seeking abortions that they are linked to  breast cancer , [ 94 ]  a claim that has been refuted by the medical community. [ 95 ]


In April 2012, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a bill requiring doctors who prescribe the  medical abortion  pill to have three meetings with patients or be subject to felony charges. Planned Parenthood suspended non-surgical abortions in the state. [ 96 ]


On January 20, 2012,  Health and Human Services ' Secretary  Kathleen Sebelius  announced a mandate requiring that all health plans provide coverage for all  contraceptives  approved by the  FDA  as part of preventive health services for women. [ 97 ]  Following complaints from Catholic bishops, an exception was created for religious institutions whereby an employee of a religious institution that does not wish to provide reproductive health care can seek it directly from the insurance company at no additional cost. [ 98 ]  Missouri Senator  Roy Blunt  proposed an amendment (the Blunt Amendment) that would have "allowed employers to refuse to include contraception in health care coverage if it violated their religious or moral beliefs", [ 99 ]  but it was voted down 51-48 by the U.S. Senate on March 1, 2012. [ 100 ]  A bill passed by the Arizona House would allow employers to exclude medication used for contraceptive purposes from their health insurance plans. [ 15 ] [ 16 ]


In February 2012, Republican Congressman  Darrell Issa  convened an all-male panel addressing religious freedom and  contraceptive mandates  for health insurers. He did not allow  Sandra Fluke , a  Georgetown University Law Center  student who was proposed as a witness by the Democrats, to participate in the hearing, arguing that Fluke was not a member of the clergy. [ 101 ]  Democratic Representatives then staged a separate panel where Fluke was allowed to speak. Later that month, American  conservative talk-show  host  Rush Limbaugh   controversially called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute"  and continued in similar fashion for the next two days. [ 102 ]   Foster Friess , the billionaire supporting the candidacy of  Rick Santorum , suggested in February 2012 that women put aspirin between their knees as a form of contraception. [ 103 ]  Limbaugh echoed the sentiment, saying he would "buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want." [ 104 ]   Nancy Pelosi  circulated a petition and asked that Republicans in the House of Representatives disavow the comments by Friess and Limbaugh, which she called "vicious and inappropriate". [ 105 ]


Several Democrats used the phrase  War on Women  to criticize the Republican Party after  House  Republicans passed legislation to cut off funding for  Planned Parenthood  in February 2011. [ 106 ]  Texas, Indiana and Kansas have passed legislation in an effort to defund the organization. Arizona, Ohio and New Hampshire are considering similar legislation. In Texas, lawmakers reduced funds for family planning from $111M to $37M. [ 107 ]  The future of the Women's Health Program in Texas, which receives 90% of its funding from the federal government, is unclear. [ 108 ]  The Indiana legislature passed a bill restricting Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood. [ 109 ]  Indiana Representative Bob Morris later referred to the  Girl Scouts of the USA  as a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood. [ 110 ]  A 2011 Kansas statute cut funding to Planned Parenthood. [ 111 ]


On January 31, 2012, breast cancer organization  Susan G. Komen for the Cure  stopped funding Planned Parenthood, citing a congressional investigation by Rep.  Cliff Stearns  and a newly created internal rule about not funding organizations under any federal, state or local investigation. [ 112 ]  Four days later, Komen's Board of Directors reversed the decision and announced that it would amend the policy to "make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political". [ 113 ]  Several top-level staff members resigned from Komen during the controversy. [ 114 ]


The  National Organization for Women  (NOW), in the U.S., in 2011, stated its opinion that "the 'war on women' isn't restricted to U.S. women", [ 9 ]  saying that the  House of Representatives  planned to "cut ... international family planning assistance.... [to] include the elimination of all U.S. funds designated for UNFPA" [ 9 ]  (now known as the  United Nations Population Fund ).


In January 2011, the  No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act  moved to change how  rape  is treated when used to determine whether abortions qualify for Medicaid funding. Under the language of the bill, only cases of "forcible rape" or  child sexual abuse  would have qualified. [ 115 ]  Political activist groups  Moveon.org  and  Emily's List  charged that this constituted a Republican attempt to "redefine rape". [ 115 ] [ 116 ] [ 117 ]


In 2014, Michigan law prohibited all public and most private insurers from covering abortions including in cases of rape and incest. [ 118 ]  It requires women to buy separate insurance and has been called "rape insurance" by opponents because of the possibility that women will need to have separate insurance for an abortion resulting from rape. [ 118 ] [ 119 ]


Unsuccessful Missouri Republican candidate to the U.S. Senate  Todd Akin  made controversial comments in August 2012 asserting (falsely [ 120 ] [ 121 ] [ 122 ] [ 123 ] ) that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" rarely experience  pregnancy from rape . [ 31 ]  While he issued an apology for his comments, they were widely criticized, and they sparked a renewed focus on Republican attitudes towards women [ 8 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ] [ 124 ]  and "shift[ed] the national discussion to divisive social issues that could repel swing voters rather than economic issues that could attract them". [ 125 ]


There were multiple calls from Republicans for Akin to step down as nominee.  The Washington Post  reported a "stampede" of Republicans dissociating from Akin.  NRSC  chairman  John Cornyn  said the Republican Party would no longer provide him Senate election funding. [ 126 ]  A campaign spokesman for  Mitt Romney  and  Paul Ryan  said both disagreed with Akin's position and would not oppose abortion in instances of rape. Ryan reportedly called Akin to advise him to step aside. [ 127 ]   RNC  Chairman  Reince Priebus  warned Akin not to attend the upcoming 2012 Republican convention and said he should resign the nomination. He described Akin's comments as "biologically stupid" and "bizarre" and said that "This is not mainstream talk that he's referring to and his descriptions of whatever an illegitimate rape is." [ 128 ] [ 129 ]


Other Republican candidates in the 2012 election also created controversy with their comments on rape. [ 130 ]  Indiana Senate candidate  Richard Mourdock , when discussing his opposition to exceptions on abortion bans in cases of rape, said, "I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." [ 131 ] [ 132 ]   Tom Smith , the Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, compared pregnancy from rape to pregnancy out of wedlock. [ 133 ]  Akin, Mourdock, and Smith all lost their races due to backlash from women voters. [ 134 ]


Columnist  Margery Eagan  has said that opposition to reforming the military in order to better prosecute sexual assaults constitutes a war on women. [ 135 ]  Senator  Saxby Chambliss  of Georgia was criticized for saying that part of the cause of the sexual assault was young officers' "hormone level created by nature". [ 136 ]


The renewal of the  Violence Against Women Act , which provides for community violence prevention programs and battered women's shelters, was fiercely opposed by  conservative  Republicans in 2012. [ 14 ]  The Act was originally passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized by Congress twice. [ 137 ] [ 138 ]  Senate Minority leader  Mitch McConnell , who has previously voted against renewal of the Act, said the bill was a distraction from a small business bill. [ 139 ]  However, in 2013 a strengthened version of the act was passed by Congress with bipartisan support. [ 140 ]


In February 2011,  Ms. magazine  charged House Republicans with launching a new "war on women" for their proposal to cut the  WIC  budget by 10%. [ 141 ] [ 142 ]  The WIC program, which  President   Barack Obama  has called a spending priority, is a federal assistance program for low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children under the age of five. The program had been running a surplus, primarily due to decreases in the cost of milk, which make up 20% of WIC expenditures, and lower participation than expected. [ 142 ]  WIC's budget was later cut by 5.2% as part of the bipartisan  budget sequestration in 2013 . [ 142 ] [ 143 ]


In April 2012,  Governor   Scott Walker 's repeal of Wisconsin's  Equal Pay Enforcement Act  was described by opponents as furthering the "war on women", which became a big issue in his recall election. [ 144 ]  The  Equal Pay Enforcement Act  was passed in 2009 in response to the large gap between the wages of men and women in Wisconsin. Among other provisions, it allowed workplace discrimination victims redress in the less costly and more accessible state court system, rather than in federal court. [ 145 ] [ 146 ]  Defending the repeal, Walker stated that the Act had essentially been nothing but a boon for trial lawyers, incentivizing them to sue job creators, including female business owners, and that the law was being used to clog up the legal system in his state. [ 147 ]  While it is still illegal in Wisconsin to pay women less on the basis of their sex, [ 147 ]  the repeal was criticized for reinforcing the  gender pay gap , a recurrent theme in the struggle for women's rights. Republican State Senator  Glenn Grothman  said of the repeal, "You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious." [ 148 ]  Law student  Sandra Fluke , criticized Grothman's comment, highlighting legislation that supports equal pay for equal work, such as the federal  Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 . [ 149 ]


A May 2012  Kaiser Family Foundation  poll found that 31 percent of women and 28 percent of men believed there was an ongoing and wide-scale effort to "limit women's reproductive health choices and services". [ 2 ] [ 150 ]  45 percent of women and 44 percent of men responded that some groups would like to limit these choices and services, but it's not wide‐scale. [ 150 ]  Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say there is a movement, but the largest gap was between liberal and conservative ideologies. [ 150 ]  Among those women believing these efforts to be wide-scale, 75 percent saw this as "a bad thing" against 16 percent who saw this as "a good thing". [ 150 ]  In the same poll, 42 percent of women and men have said they have taken some action in response to what they heard regarding reproductive health issues. [ 2 ] [ 150 ]


While the "war on women" rhetoric has been used to target  Republican party  attacks on women's rights, particularly on issues of  reproductive health , research has shown some potential negative impacts of the  Democratic party  using this terminology. A Cambridge Core study published in 2017 by scholars Simas and Bumgardner found that the use of this rhetoric may steer male voters, particularly liberals who would usually vote for the  Democratic party , away from the Democratic party. [ 151 ]  A study in 2015 by scholars Deckman and McTague found a growth in the gender gap from 7 percentage points in 2008 to 10 between  Obama  and  Romney  in 2012. [ 152 ]  Though it could be theorized that this growing gender gap can be attributed to an increasing female support due to the inclusion of women's issues in Obama's campaign, this is in fact incorrect. In actuality, Obama's male vote decreased from 49% in 2008 to 45% in 2012. [ 151 ]  The Cambridge Core study attributed this decrease to sexist men who embody a concept called "modern sexism," a version of sexism similar to  neosexism  that focuses on a belief that  sex discrimination  no longer exists and, as a result, women should receive no special favors or advantages. [ 151 ]  As the Encyclopedia of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations puts it," Modern sexism manifests itself in terms of downplaying the existence of discrimination against women and resentment of complaints about sexism and efforts to assist women." [ 153 ]  This compares to a more traditional form of sexism which is focused on  gender roles  and the exclusion of women from the  public sphere . [ 151 ]  Simas and Bumgardner theorize that Obama's focus on women's issues drove away male voters who were modern sexists and thus found this focus on women's issues to be futile and unfair. In their study, they find that modern sexism significantly increases the likelihood that men vote for Romney. On the other hand, these results do not hold for female voters. [ 151 ]  These results imply that the use of rhetoric such as the "war on women" narrative which emphasizes women's rights as a salient political category may harm the Democratic party by pushing away Democratically aligned voters who do not prioritize or believe in women's rights as requiring special attention.


Though some research has shown a negative impact of the adoption of the term "war on women," some research has shown potential positive consequences of the political and public attention that terms like "war on women" bring to issues. One study by Katherine McCabe found that when  abortion  becomes a salient political topic, voters revert back to their pre-existing beliefs on abortion more so than when it is less salient. [ 154 ]  This contradicts former scholarship showing that voters tend to side with the issue preferences of their party, especially in recent years. This finding may serve as emphasis for the importance of terms like the "war on women" which bring more public attention and salience to issues like abortion, potentially causing more people to vote in line with their beliefs rather than their party's beliefs.


In the  Colorado race  of the  2014 midterm elections , the Republican candidate  Cory Gardner  unseated the incumbent Democratic Senator  Mark Udall .  NARAL Pro-Choice America  gives Udall a 100% rating for  abortion rights , [ 155 ]  and Gardner earned a 0% rating. [ 156 ]  Udall ran a number of TV ads highlighting his abortion stance, [ 157 ]  which critics said was a  negative campaign  that overplayed the "war on women" issue. [ 158 ] [ 159 ] [ 160 ] [ 161 ] [ 162 ] [ 163 ]


Sandra Fluke  stood as a candidate in California, losing by 61 to 39. [ 163 ]


The "war on women" narrative was particularly salient in the  2012 presidential election  because Obama's campaign largely targeted female voters and attempted to spread the narrative that the  Republican party  and  Mitt Romney  were out of touch with women's issues. A 2015 Fordham University study by Deckman and McTague studied the effects of the "war on women" narrative and vote choice in the 2012 election with respect to two issues:  birth control  insurance coverage and abortion attitudes. [ 152 ]  They found that voters, but particularly women, who supported the  Obama administration's  birth control mandate were far more likely to vote for Obama than those who didn't. [ 152 ]  However, abortion attitudes were found not to be a strong predictor of vote choice in this election. [ 152 ]  This disparity was characterized largely due to a difference in conceptualization of the issues. While abortion was seen more as a moral/cultural issue, the birth control mandate was viewed more as an economic and social welfare issue. [ 152 ]  Due to these differences, it is difficult to tell whether the "war on women" narrative played a positive or negative role in women's vote choice in the 2012 presidential election.


Despite the power of the "war on women" rhetoric in 2012 presidential and congressional elections, the 2014 election cycle saw far less deployment of the term by Democratic candidates. [ 164 ]  After the 2012 presidential elections experienced the largest gender gap in partisanship based on voting since Gallup began tracking presidential voting behavior in 1952, the  Republican party  felt the pressure to regain its female voting contingent for the 2014 elections. [ 164 ]  Many efforts were taken to bring women back to the Republican party and reduce the public perception at that time that the Republican party didn't address women's issues. For one, the Republican party took considerable efforts to dismantle the use of "the war on women" narrative by attempting to show female voters that they did care about women's issues and to highlight instances when the  Democratic party  demonstrated "anti-woman" behavior. [ 164 ]  Furthermore, the Republican party attempted to re-attract female voters by taking a pro birth control pill stance, telling voters that they supported  birth control pill  access over the counter, 24-7. [ 164 ]  This move was found to be particularly wise by sociology scholar Deana Rohlinger because it "balances religious freedom and women's rights," protecting Republicans' relationship to their religious and socially conservative constituents by continuing to support workplaces in their right to deny birth control access on the basis of religious freedom, but still allowing birth control to be accessible to those who need it. [ 164 ]  Though these efforts did not close the gender partisan gap in the 2014 elections, they did diminish Democratic candidates use of the "war on women" rhetoric by highlighting Democratic hypocrisy at times and showcasing Republican efforts to support women's issues.


Political analysts have interpreted the  2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign  as appealing to a female constituency, and have used the phrase "war on women" to describe Republican opposition. [ 158 ] [ 165 ] [ 166 ] [ 167 ]  Republican presidential candidate  Carly Fiorina  said "If Hillary Clinton were to face a female nominee, there are a whole set of things that she won't be able to talk about. She won't be able to talk about being the first woman president. She won't be able to talk about a war on women without being challenged. She won't be able to play the gender card." [ 168 ]


Donald Trump , a  Republican candidate for the 2016 Presidency  attended a Fox News debate in August 2015, where  Megyn Kelly  asked him about how he would respond to a  Hillary Clinton campaign  saying that he was waging a "war on women". [ 169 ] [ 170 ]  In a later interview with  Don Lemon  on  CNN Tonight , Trump said that Kelly is a "lightweight" and had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever". [ 171 ] [ 172 ]  Trump tweeted that his remark referred to Kelly's "nose" but was interpreted by critics as a reference to  menstruation .  RedState  editor  Erick Erickson  cancelled Trump's invitation to a RedState meeting, saying "there are just real lines of decency a person running for President should not cross". [ 173 ] [ 174 ]


Critics of the term have denied that a war on women exists and some have suggested that it is a ploy to influence women voters.  Reince Priebus , the Chairman of the  RNC , referred to the War as a "fiction", saying: "If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we'd have problems with caterpillars." [ 175 ] [ 176 ] [ 177 ]  Republican Representative  Cathy McMorris Rodgers  called the war a myth, saying "It's an effort to drive a political wedge in an election year." Referring to the 2010 elections and  Nancy Pelosi , she said that "It could be argued that the women actually unelected the first woman Speaker of the House." [ 178 ] [ 179 ]  South Carolina Governor  Nikki Haley  said in 2012 "There is no war on women. Women are doing well." [ 180 ]  Republican Representative  Paul Ryan  mocked the idea of a Republican War on Women, saying "Now it's a war on women; tomorrow it's going to be a war on left-handed Irishmen or something like that." [ 181 ]


Republican Senator  Lisa Murkowski  countered the criticism from her fellow party members, challenging them to "go home and talk to your wife and your daughters" if they did not think there was a war on women, saying "It makes no sense to make this attack on women." [ 3 ]


After the  2012 rape and pregnancy controversies , Republican strategists met with aides of Republican figures to advise them on how to run against female candidates. [ 182 ] [ 183 ]


Members of the  Democratic Party , both prominent and local, have been accused of participating in the war on women. In a column for  USA Today ,  Glenn Reynolds  wrote in July 2013 that "most of the action in the war on women seems to be coming from the Democratic front," referring to the allegations of sexual harassment against  San Diego  mayor  Bob Filner , the  Anthony Weiner sexting scandal , and the  Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal . [ 184 ]  The  Republican National Senatorial Committee  has also used these scandals in press releases, tying Democratic Senators in  Iowa  and  New Hampshire  to the allegations. [ 185 ] [ 186 ]


The messaging from Republicans was described as unlikely to be effective by  Garance Franke-Ruta  in  The Atlantic  because "[the War on Women] was an argument about Republican policies on women ... rather than about reprehensible individual behavior." Noting that many of the targets are not on upcoming ballots, Franke-Ruta continued by saying the Republican Party "is going to need its own pro-active framework for thinking about what is happening in America and why women have been drawn to Democrats in numbers that matter in key elections." [ 19 ]


Jonathan Alter  characterized the phrase as an "alliteratve but unfair notion". [ 187 ]


David Weigel  called for "a moment of silence" in his article entitled "The 'War on Women' Is Over: The life cycle of a political talking point, from birth to adolescence to death." In it he explained his understanding of the stages in the "life cycle" of the Democratic "talking point". [ 11 ]


Molly Redden wrote an article for  Mother Jones  entitled "The War on Women is Over -- and Women Lost". She described the difficulties faced by abortion providers: "Activists have been calling it the 'war on women.' But the onslaught of new abortion restrictions has been so successful, so strategically designed, and so well coordinated that the war in many places has essentially been lost." [ 188 ]


Feminist  Camille Paglia  has called the term "war on women" a "tired cliché that is as substance-less as a druggy mirage but that the inept GOP has never been able to counter." [ 189 ]


World Conference on Women, 1975  was held between 19 June and 2 July 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico. It was the first international conference held by the United Nations to focus solely on women's issues and marked a turning point in policy directives. After this meeting, women were viewed as part of the process to develop and implement policy, rather than recipients of assistance. The conference was one of the events established for  International Women's Year  and led to the creation of both the  United Nations Decade for Women  and follow-up conferences to evaluate the progress that had been made in eliminating discrimination against women and their equality. Two documents were adopted from the conference proceedings, the  World Plan of Action  which had specific targets for nations to implement for women's improvement and the  Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of Women and Their Contribution to Development and Peace , which discussed how nations foreign policy actions impacted women. It also led to the establishment of the  International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women  to track improvements and continuing issues and the  United Nations Development Fund for Women  to provide funding for developmental programs. The conference marked the first time that   the parallel Tribune meeting was successful in submitting input to the official meeting and became a catalyst for women's groups to form throughout the world.


The World Conference on Women occurred in the 1970s amid the  Cold War  when geopolitical conflict was controlled based on the interests of the United States or the USSR in various regions throughout the world, polarizing the world into two camps and their respective fields of influence. [ 1 ]  At a time when the United States had just withdrawn from  Vietnam , [ 2 ]  forty-eight separate conflicts would rock Asia in such places as  Afghanistan ,  Bangladesh ,  Cambodia ,  Indonesia ,  Laos ,  Myanmar ,  Pakistan ,  Sri Lanka . [ 3 ]  African wars during the end of  decolonization  in the 1970s turned toward long-lasting  civil wars  in  Angola ,  Ethiopia-Somali ,  Mozambique  and other African nations, with the superpowers manipulating the conflicts in the background with troops and arms. [ 4 ]   Decolonization  of the Caribbean saw twelve states gain their independence between 1962 and 1983, but simultaneously remain marginalized by pressures from world powers which continued to manipulate local concerns. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  Two significant Middle East conflicts occurred in  1967  and  1973  with the US backing its Arab allies and Israel, while the USSR backed  Arab socialist  regimes. [ 7 ]  In  Central  and South America various  coups d'états  in  Argentina ,  Bolivia ,  Chile ,  Ecuador ,  El Salvador  and dictatorships led to instability and decimation of indigenous populations. [ 1 ]


Responses to the conflict often had additional repercussions, such as the  1973 Oil embargo , a response to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which caused the price of oil to rise on the world market from three dollars per barrel to twelve dollars per barrel. [ 8 ]  The embargo was followed by the  1979 energy crisis , sparked by concerns over lowered production caused by the  Iranian Revolution  and how continued instability might impact oil availability. That in turn led to a build up of reserves, during which time the price of oil doubled and forced the world to look at alternative sources of oil. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  Adding to global tensions were racially and religiously charged conflicts ranging from  Apartheid  to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to  Paternalism . [ 11 ]


Work had long been ongoing by the  United Nations Commission on the Status of Women  (CSW) to adopt a declaration to eliminate discrimination against women. By 1965, it was believed that enough support had been garnered to obtain passage of a declaration to secure women's human rights. Collating responses covering education, employment, inheritance, penal reform, and other issues, from government actors, NGO representatives and UN staff, CSW delegates began drafting a declaration. On 7 November 1967, the  Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women  (DEDAW), was passed by the General Assembly. [ 12 ]  In 1972, the  United States Congress  passed  Title IX , eliminating discrimination in education for any institution receiving federal funding. That same year, CSW proposed that DEDAW become a legally binding  Convention . To that end, the United Nations proclaimed 1975 as  International Women's Year  and the CSW set about the tasks to prepare the "machinery" necessary to secure passage.  Helvi Sipilä , was selected as the Assistant Secretary General for Social Development and Humanitarian affairs and placed in charge of organizing events. [ 13 ]  Added significance of the date was that the conference would take place on the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. [ 14 ]


When the United Nations designated 1975 as  International Women's Year , no conference was planned as part of the celebrations because delegates on opposing sides of the  Cold War  could not agree to authorize one. [ 15 ]  Initially proposed by the Romanian delegate of the  UN Commission on the Status of Women , communist women joined to  filibuster  the project, [ 16 ]  instead proposing a women's congress in  East Berlin , which had nothing to do with the United Nations. [ 15 ]  As a counter, the US proposed a gender neutral conference to be held in  Bogotá , Colombia to promote equality for men and women, because the presence of men would legitimize the conference. [ 17 ]  When Mexico City agreed to host the conference,  Princess Ashraf  of Iran began collecting funds, [ 15 ]  and each side mobilized to shape the agenda. The US position advocated for political rights and elimination of discrimination through legal remedies. The Soviet camp advocated for women to be empowered so that they could use their natural abilities as nurturers to stem violence and inequality which created poverty and injustice. [ 18 ]


Though  Pedro Ojeda Paullada  [ es ] , the Mexican Attorney General, was appointed head of the conference, the majority, 113 of the 133 delegation leaders were women. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]  The conference was a governmental meeting, not a meeting of women, and as such the high percentage of women marked the first time that 73% of the delegates for a UN conference were women, even if the 27% participation by men was higher than the number of women typical at such conferences. [ 20 ]  The nature of the conference also dictated that all delegates, as representatives of their governments would follow the ideological agendas of their governments, rather than act upon any private convictions. [ 16 ]  Among the prominent delegates, which many feminists felt were chosen for ideological reasons or ties to prominent male politicians, were  Sirimavo Bandaranaike , Prime Minister of  Sri Lanka ; [ 21 ]   Anna Louise Beer , chair of the  Norwegian National Women's Council ;  Vilma Espín de Castro , sister-in-law to the Cuban president;  Francoise Giroud ,  French Minister of Women's Affairs ; [ 22 ]   Imelda Marcos ,  First Lady of the Philippines ;  Ashraf Pahlavi , twin sister of Iran's shah; [ 23 ]   Leah Rabin ,  First Lady of Israel ; [ 24 ]   Elizabeth Anne Reid  of Australia; [ 25 ]   Silvana Maria Rota ,  Argentine  congresswoman; [ 22 ]   Jehan Sadat ,  First Lady of Egypt ; [ 26 ]  Soviet  Cosmonaut   Valentina Tereshkova , the first woman in space;  Vida Tomšič ,  Yugoslavian  representative of the  Non-Aligned Movement ; [ 27 ]   Khunying Suparb Visessurakarn , vice president of  Thailand 's National Council on Social Welfare; [ 28 ]  but not  First Lady   Betty Ford , as the US administration feared linking the threat of  anti-capitalist  sentiment with women's issues. [ 16 ]


After opening remarks by  Kurt Waldheim , President  Luis Echeverría  of Mexico spoke, stating that women, in their role as mothers, were allies of the oppressed and that "no woman was more discriminated against or exploited than the woman without bread, school or medicines for her children". Setting the stage, Echeverría's comments mirrored the position that the nurturing nature of women could help to solve the world's crises, if marginalization were eliminated. [ 29 ]  It was agreed that the themes of equality, development and peace were the primary focus of action, as they were international in nature and required simultaneous action by global components. [ 30 ]  In general discussion it was recognized that to achieve equality and attain the fundamental human rights and freedoms expressed in the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the inferior status of women had to be addressed to bring about parity in civic, economic, legal, social and political spheres. [ 31 ]  Recognizing that legal changes alone could not ensure equality, the general discussion agreed that developmental programs made available to both urban and rural women must include women in all decision-making levels, from planning to implementation and analysis, and must provide adequate training. The discussion also recognized the need to monitor advances in women's progress as well a societal change in attitudes toward women via national institutions. [ 32 ]  In efforts toward peace, the discussion recognized women's contributions to developing friendly international relationships and pressing for disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament. Increased participation by women in international and regional problem-solving summits, was discussed as a way to maintain peace and security. [ 33 ]


The first committee, under the chair  Jeanne Martin Cissé  of  Guinea , with vice-chairs,  Gladys Freire de Addiego  of  Uruguay ,  Jaroslav Havelka  [ cs ]  of  Czechoslovakia  and  Nilima Ibrahim  of  Bangladesh  and  Rapporteur  John Bruce Campbell of Australia [ 34 ]  discussed the World Plan of Action. The plan, which had previously been drafted by a diverse range of UN committees, established a broad range of targets, considering that national developments were in varying stages, to be accomplished over the next decade (1975–1985). [ 35 ] [ 36 ]  In addition to adopting the overall plan as revised by subcommittees, the first committee evaluating six draft resolutions, which dealt with research and training, international cooperation, women's status, the role of the UN in implementation of the Plan, women's health, and participation of women in future meetings of the UN. All were accepted with either no or minimal modification. The  Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of Women and Their Contribution to Development and Peace , was also reviewed by the committee and the draft accepted with minimal or no modification. [ 37 ]  Some radical feminists, uninterested in reviewing a plan already prepared by UN committees tried to take over a US embassy meeting and yet another group walked out of the conference when Leah Rabin spoke. [ 36 ]


The second committee, under the chair Shapour Rassekh of Iran, with vice-chairs,  Edmonde Dever  of  Belgium ,  Annie Jiagge  of  Ghana  and  Anna Papp  of  Hungary  and Rapporteur  Phyllis MacPherson-Russell  of  Jamaica [ 38 ]  evaluated current trends and obstacles in the roles of men and women to achieving parity in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities; and how women could be integrated into developmental programs.  They discussed passage of the  Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women  (CEDAW) as a critical step in the process. Recognizing the wide gap between the  de jure  and  de facto  status of women, the committee noted that to achieve equality changes would need to be made in a broad spectrum of areas including: education, employment opportunity, family, integration into existent systems, and the law. [ 39 ]  Fifty-eight draft resolutions had been submitted for the committee to review, which covered these areas and they divided them into working groups to reduce duplications. [ 40 ]  Winnowing down the drafts to twenty-one items which were accepted with modifications, the major areas concerned communications media, education and training, employment, exploitation of women and girls, family health, family planning, family security (including the elderly and disabled), financial assistance, integration to development, political and social participation, and systems to gather, collate and evaluate data on women's status. [ 41 ]  The committee evaluated seven other drafts having to do with expanding the role of women in peace initiatives and nation rebuilding, and adopted each of them with little or no modification. [ 42 ]


The International Women's Year Tribune was a parallel conference scheduled by women to be held simultaneously with the official conference. The format allowed for non-governmental organizations (NGO) to meet and discuss the issues tabled at the official conference, but gave them no authority to take any action. [ 43 ] [ 44 ]  There were around 6,000 delegates who attended the Tribune, [ 16 ]  organized by  Mildred Persinger  the UN's  YWCA  observer, [ 45 ]  including such women as  Domitila Barrios de Chungara , head of the Siglo XX Miners' Union Housewives Committee of  Bolivia ; [ 46 ]   Nancy Cárdenas , Mexican lesbian activist; [ 47 ]   Jacqui Ceballos , former president of the New York chapter of  National Organization for Women  (NOW); [ 48 ]   Thelma Daily  of the  Coalition of Labor Union Women  (CLUW);  Carole DeSaram , president of the New York NOW [ 49 ]   Betty Friedan , founder of NOW; [ 47 ]   Ronnie Feit  of the  National Women's Political Caucus ;  Dorothy Haene  of the  United Auto Workers ;  Dorothy Height  of the  National Council of Negro Women ; [ 49 ]   Pat Keppler  of the  Harvard Divinity School ; [ 50 ]   Esperanza Martí , director of  Fem  magazine and a Mexican feminist; [ 51 ]   Jan Peterson  of CLUW; [ 49 ]  and  Margo St. James , founder of  COYOTE . [ 52 ]  The founders of  Women's World Banking  met as part of the tribunal, including   Michaela Walsh , a program associate at the  Rockefeller Brothers Fund , who met  Ela R. Bhatt , founder of  Self-Employed Women's Association of India , and  Esther Ocloo , a Ghanaian businesswoman. [ 53 ]