UNFPA: Half of Girls and Women Worldwide Lack Body Autonomy

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reported on Wednesday that over half of adolescent girls and women in developing countries could not decide over their bodies regarding reproduction, sexual relationships, or seeking healthcare.

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"No country in the world today can claim to have achieved gender equality in its totality. If it had, there would be no violence against women and girls, no pay gaps, no leadership gaps, no unfair burden of unpaid care work, no lack of quality and comprehensive reproductive health services, and no lack of bodily autonomy," the UNFPA said.

According to the report, at least 20 countries worldwide have legislation endorsing that rapists cannot be prosecuted if they marry their victims. At the same time, 40 territories lack the legal disposition to sanction marital rape.

The study denounces that last year at least "12 million girls were still married as children." The UNFPA notices that although the report "currently covers only about one in four of the world’s countries, they paint an alarming picture of the state of bodily autonomy for millions of women and girls: only 55 percent of girls and women can make their own decisions in all three dimensions of bodily autonomy."