Women’s empowerment under the lens of global health equity: Literature review of challenges, best practices, and societal impact

Abstract

Introduction: Women’s empowerment refers to strengthening the social, economic, and educational powers of women. Numerous global initiatives have been implemented to enable women to make decisions about their health and lives. The purpose of this literature review was to review women’s health barriers, related best practices, and their impacts on women's empowerment in the global context. Methods: We comprehensively searched databases: PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar and key program websites. To expand our review, we used a snowball strategy to scan articles, documents, reports, and research outputs of global programs and best practices to overcome barriers. Also, we screened publications posted on websites of organizations working on women’s empowerment and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals progress. Results: Findings suggest significant advancements have been made in the status of women's health over the past two decades. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated health barriers, impeding, and even reversing progress, which has resulted in widening women’s inequity in access to health care services worldwide. Conclusions: Findings suggest that successful and sustainable programs should have a multisectoral, multilevel and multistakeholder, diversified interventions approach with social empowerment, as well as the need for legislative enforcement against discrimination and harmful practices towards women.