As we recognise UN’s International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March, we are thrilled to launch our latest policy brief: Enabling Agency in Health Care.
This brief outlines and addresses factors that impact women’s agency and autonomy in accessing health care.
Agency, as we define it, is when people have resources and freedom to make decisions and act in ways that influence their lives.
In the realm of health care, many women face barriers to exercising agency on both an interpersonal and institutional level.
This brief provides an overview of these barriers, along with the key dimensions of women’s agency in health care. It encourages clinicians, policymakers and governments to commit to giving women and girls the resources and power necessary to be equal partners in making decisions about their health care.
This is especially relevant to the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress’.
As we know, investing funds in platforms that elevate women’s voices enable agency and strengthen health outcomes for all. Our new brief informs understanding about the barriers and enablers to this process.