Larissa de Melo

Issue 1: Poverty Effect on Women’s Health

United Kingdom

United Nations fund for population activities

International School of Panama

NHSMUN 2022

How can low-income countries with high levels of poverty affect a woman's health? In poverty,

both women and men struggle to find resources, but women have been proven to have more struggles

with no resources to support them, while women have to go through periods they have no access to

products that would help them such as pads, tampons, pain relievers and more, this problem leads to

issues in their lives that would require medical attention which they have no access to and in some

countries health care can cost over $7,000.

What is poverty? Poverty can mean not having money to live a basic and healthy life, not having

enough money to buy food, own clean water, have shelter, protection, a roof over your head, education,

job, access to medical care, clothes, access to hygienic products and more. Poverty can be caused by

many factors starting by a person’s childhood and their financial situation, if a child grows up in a low-

income family who doesn't have the funds to provide for their child they can have a lack of education

resulting in troubles of being qualified for a job, other factors of poverty can also be overpopulation,

climate change, inequality, lack of government support, lack of jobs, corruption and more. All of these

causes can contribute to the 676 million people that are currently in poverty. There are also different

branches in the term of poverty.

Absolute Poverty/Extreme Poverty is the lack of basic needs, clean water, food, shelter, clothes,

education, and more, people that live in these conditions are more likely to die from diseases that high-

income families who have access to medical care could easily prevent, this type of poverty is seen in poor

countries.

The next type is Relative Poverty which is more of a social type, not specifically related to their income

but more of what they are able to afford, people that live in these conditions are able to afford basic

necessities but not trips, gifts, materialists things and more, this falls closer to what society standards

serve as rich and poor depending on what each family spends their well-earned money on.

Situational Poverty is a contemporary living situation, which can last up to 10 years, this can be caused by

home destruction caused by natural disasters, war, or the loss of a job, addiction, health issues that leave

you in debt, or general debt that can be because of student loans.

Generational poverty is a cycle of generations of families that are in poverty, this cycle is hard to break

because until a member of the family gets their education and a stable income it would be incredibly hard

to better their situation. People that live in these situations have lived in poverty since they were born

because their parents were also part of the cycle and so were their parents. 1 person could start this cycle

but it was said that it's not likely that 1 person could simply end which is why this is one of the harder

ones that we’ve been trying to fight for years.

Rural Poverty, this type of poverty is because of the living situation in rural areas with fewer job

opportunities, people that live like this can be homeless or poor because of land being taken, lack of

access to service fewer education opportunities, and more. The rates of rural poverty are harder to control

due to the lack of medical help and opportunities these people get the current rate of poverty in these

areas is 15.4%.

Lastly, there's Urban Poverty, these occur in areas where there are too many people who buy a limited

amount of amenities. Overpopulation is the reason this is a thing that causes there to be a limited amount
of health-related needs, education, and the risk of developing diseases because of overcrowding.
Women have shared that they would use plastic food wrappers and toilet paper to shape them into

tampons to use for the long term, which could cause them to develop diseases like toxic shock syndrome.

In moments of desperate needs women have to use poor quality things to save themselves. And women

that have little access to these products have claimed that they had to use a tampon for over 1 week since

they didn’t have more. Many women also expose themselves to infections that could lead to cervical

cancer since they usually don't have the funds to get medical help. The American bar association says that

women face higher health costs since healthcare is not free in many countries women are more likely to

have conditions that would require going into medical treatment. Women are also more likely to develop

depression, anxiety, ADHD and would need more prescription medication, lower-income caused by

misogyny also causes women to not ask for medical attention even when bearing a child. When a woman

in poverty gets pregnant there's no way for her to get a medical abortion if needed, abortions cost from

$75 - to 2,500, which means they have two options, having the baby with no funds to support the baby

with providing education, food, shelter or clothes or having an unsafe abortion which could lead to death,

some countries and states have prohibited the right for women to have medical abortions which obligate

women to keep the child without a safe environment for the child to be raised.

Another factor these women have to face is the unsafety of living in the streets in poverty. The

exposure to living in the streets means they are never truly safe, any money they make could be easily

stolen as they don't have access to a bank, they could easily get kidnapped, raped, killed, or exploited as

nothing is protecting them. Without safe shelters, women have no choice other than to sell themselves for

a small amount of money or a shelter. In 2018 there was a statistic that showed over 180 billion dollars

were made in the global sex trade, which means millions of women that had no other choice have gotten

become sex workers, which is damaging to their mental health, exposes them to drug usage which can
lead to addictions and overdoses, it also increases their chances of getting abused. In 1998 a research by

PubMed.gov Women’s Health was made that interviewed women who worked as sex workers and it

showed that 82% of them confessed to being physically assaulted, 83% of them were threatened with a

weapon, 68% were raped and 84% admitted that they were homeless and experienced poverty before

getting involved.

During the pandemic, these cases have only gotten worse, over 2 million women have been fired

from their jobs, causing them to suffer more. And factors like these make it harder for women to get jobs,

women are expected to do housework like cooking, cleaning, taking care of the family, these tasks stop

them from having time to qualify for a job, and they get no money from doing housework. Each year the

value of unpaid work reached $10 trillion, and that means every year women work hard hours to make

little to no money. In times of COVID-19, more people got unemployed and it was expected that over 247

women would be unemployed and experiencing poverty in 2021.

The gender pay gap, play more into why women suffer more in poverty, with the misogynistic

work environment makes it harder for women to be considered for a job or a promotion even if they do

men would make more money from a lower job position for no reason, they could work the same job yet a

woman would make less even if they are both qualified. The society also considers men for many more

jobs than they do women, as some jobs over the decades have been labeled as “a man's job” incentivizes

companies to hire men for jobs a woman could be more experienced and qualified for. This creates a

difference in how much men make per year and women make per year which causes women to make less

money, therefore, more likely to live in poverty. The gender pay gap also affects people of color, for $1 a
 white male makes, a Latin person makes 54 cents, a black person makes 62 cents, an Asian

person earns 90 cents and an indigenous person makes 57 cents. All these factors contribute to how

women are more

likely to face poverty.

The UK poverty rate is currently 23%, the UK has done many things to reduce poverty in 2019

the increased spending on welfare benefits by spending 18 billion euros on families with children, raising

the minimum wage by 6.6% adding 9.50 pounds, increasing income while reducing costs, free health

coverage which is paid by the taxation, they have added a free school mean plan for children and the

“Healthy start” which is an organization that helps pregnant women and people that have children under

the age of 4 to get food, these people will get a healthy start card with money which is for certain UK

food shops these cards can get you food, vitamins, baby supplies and more. However, poverty is still an

issue the plan to reduce, over the past 4 years JRF has had a list of plans to reduce the poverty rate, and

these plans include boosting income, reducing costs, improving education, strengthening families, and

promoting long term economic growth. Their plan is to act now so that we can see change for the new

generation in 2030, their goals are that by that time less than 10% of the UK population will live in

poverty, and nobody is in poverty for more than 2 years.

In conclusion, while poverty could affect anyone, it is more likely that women would live in

poverty and have more struggles that could affect their mental and physical health. While many things

have been done to reduce poverty like creating jobs, raising the minimum wage, supporting pay equality,

investments in education, and expanding Medicaid, however, millions of women are experiencing poverty

at this moment.

Works cited

Barkan, Farley M. “Prostitution, Violence, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Women & Health, U.S.
National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9698636/.

NHS Choices, NHS, www.healthystart.nhs.uk/.

The Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle ...

www.americanprogress.org/article/the-top-10-solutions-to-cut-poverty-and-grow-the-middle-class/.

“Women and Poverty.” UN Women Asia Pacific, asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/beijing20/in-focus/women-

and-poverty.
United Nations Population Fund

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Combating gender-based violence

Hannah Baker, International School of Panama

St-1208431@isp.edu.pa

The historically entrenched patriarchy has created a culture of victim-blaming and suppression

against women that results in gender-based violence. GBV (gender-based violence) is one of the most

prominent issues in the global community to this day. Every year, millions of women are abused, rape,

controlled and left powerless by their abusers. Gender violence is defined as the physical, mental or

sexual abuse of a person because of their gender. Although men are also exposed to gender based

violence, the percent of women reporting gender abuse is much more significant than men reporting it.

Each year, an estimated seven-hundred and thirty six million women report being subjected to gender

based violence. This means that 1 in every 3 women report gender based violence, whereas for men it is 1

in every 25 (UN women). Gender violence is seen in all races, ages, ethnic backgrounds and classes

across the world, and is a dire topic needing to be addressed immediately by the United Nations,

countries, inter-regional organisations and non-governmental organisations.

The second article of the Human Rights Declaration states that “everybody is entitled to all rights

and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,

language or religion” (Human Rights Declaration, 2). This is prior to the third article, which states

“everybody has the right to life, liberty and security of a person.” (Human Rights Declaration, 3). It is a

violation of human rights to perpetrate such atrocious acts, yet seven-hundred and thirty six million cases

are still reported yearly. This is due to numerous factors, such as the cycle of gender-based violence.
 If a child witnesses either of their parents being sexually abused or sexually abusing somebody,

they are six to ten times more likely to be abused or be a perpertrator of violence. Gender-based violence

has dire consequences and affects certain people more than others. GBV has a severe impact on mental

health of victims, leading them to develop mental disorders such as depression, post traumatic stress

disorder and an increase of suicidal thoughts. In addition to that, it has the implied physical injury cost to

the victims. Women have been killed, attacked, targeted, stalked and raped solely based on what

chromosone they posses. Not only does GBV affect the victim, but it has also become a stigmatised topic

in many countries. Many women that have been abused mentally, physically or sexually have trouble

speaking out due to lack of resources, lack of a support system or fear that they will be shunned by

society. Certainly, those concerns are more than valid. In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that 40% of

women that were/are exposed to GBV are homeless, with that number rising to nearly 100% in other well

developed countries. GBV costs countries millions of USD (United States dollars) yearly. This is because

legal council, court proceedings, lost work days, health and mental costs accumulate yearly.

It is clear to conclude that gender-based violence is an atrocious matter that has severe

implications on the health and well-being of women around the world. The United Nations Population

fund is an interdisciplinary organ under the United Nations General Assembly that focuses on a range of

issues ranging from the abolishment of genital mutilation to the cease of sexually transmitted dieseses.

The United Kingdom has a gender-inequality index of seventy-two points out of a hundred, the

UK is ranked fifth in Europe upon this scale (European Institute for Gender Equality) . Although it has a

comprehensive gender-equality attitude that allows GBV victims and women in general to access

healthcare, legal counsel and psychological support- there is much to be improved upon.

The delegation of the United Kingdom proposes the following topics to be addressed through

specific, direct and sustainable resolutions in committee. First of all, the cycle of GBV must be stopped
through advocacy and education programs. Second of all, GBV victims around the world must start

having access to contraceptives, healthcare, and psychological care by contributing with UN organisations

such as the WHO (world health organisation), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), UN

women and UNHRC (United Nations human rights council) alongside non-governmental organisations

such as the IRC (International Rescue Committee.)

The last solution to this issue is military assistance. Military personnel are deployed in conflict

areas such as the Tigray region in Ethiopia to help cease arm conflicts and protect citizens. However there

have been recent perpetrators of gender-based violence by UN peacekeepers and UN staff. This is why

the delegation of the United Kingdom pledges to dedicate its resources to cease those scenarios from ever

happening again and reinstall the trust of UN-personnel in affected areas. The UK invests around 2% of

its GDP (gross domestic product) in the military and defence category, which equals roughly thirty-nine

billion pound sterling. However, the UK has a relatively low quantity of deployments, so even though it

has been one of the more commendable donors to UN peacekeeping forces, it recognizes that more can be

done. Every troop sent overseas to help out in some way must be rigorously trained to cease GBV

happening from them ever again.

In conclusion, GBV is an extremely important issue that affects hundreds of millions and must be

addressed right away through specific, direct and sustainable resolutions in committee, and assure that this

circle of GBV is abolished once and for all.

Works cited

“Facts and Figures: Ending Violence against Women.” UN Women,

www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures.
“Gender Equality Index 2019: United Kingdom.” European Institute for Gender Equality, 29 Oct. 2020,

eige.europa.eu/publications/gender-equality-index-2019-united-kingdom.

“Keeping Britain Global: Peacekeeping.” United Nations Association,

una.org.uk/keeping-britain-global-peacekeeping.

“Military Expenditure (% of GDP) - United Kingdom.” Data,

data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=GB.

Nations, United. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights - OHCHR.” Office for the High Commissioner

for Human Rights , www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf.

“NCADV: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.” The Nation's Leading Grassroots Voice on

Domestic Violence,

ncadv.org/STATISTICS#:~:text=1%20in%203%20women%20and,be%20considered%20%22do

mestic%20violence.%22&text=1%20in%207%20women%20and,injured%20by%20an%20intim

ate%20partner.

“What Is Gender-Based Violence?” European Institute for Gender Equality, European Institute for

Gender Equality, 7 Oct. 2021,

eige.europa.eu/gender-based-violence/what-is-gender-based-violence.