All people are exposed to mercury, but those most at risk are women, particularly women of child-bearing age. The #MinamataConvention specifically mentions the need to establish strategies to prevent exposure to women, and that was one of the topics of discussion at #MinamataCOP4 today.

Women can be exposed to mercury in different ways – ASGM, seafood consumption, dental amalgam, skin whiteners, and emissions from coal-fired plants and industries (check my previous posts for info). Women are mainly at risk because they carry the future generations – mercury in maternal blood is directly transferred to the developing foetus through the placenta and can cause a range of health and development issue. Levels of mercury in blood, hair and breast milk are gradually decreasing, but are still too high for human health.

A lot can be done to overcome this. We need to address the socio-development issues that lead to women working in ASGM, introducing new technologies to make practices safer, and provide alternative income-generating opportunities. We need to stop skin whitening practices - and the social constructs that lead people to want whiter skin. We need to reduce the amount of dental amalgam, prohibit mercury use in products and processes, improve health services for women, particularly during pregnancy, and develop better national policies to protect women.

Mostly, we need to promote gender equality in everything we do.

Gender equality is embedded in the Convention and efforts are being made to build capacity and provide technical assistance to women through a variety of projects. This includes gathering scientific, technical and policy information about the impact of mercury on women and children, promote knowledge and awareness, helping countries to integrate gender planning into their work at a country level, and develop a roadmap to mainstream gender.

A lot has been done, but there is still so much more to do to ensure that women are treated equally in society.

For information about today, check out: https://enb.iisd.org/Minamata-Convention-Mercury-COP4-2/24Mar22

#MakeMercuryHistory #mercury #genderequality #onassignment #stories #livingfiercely