Progress on MDG3
With 4 years to go, there is very little time to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In particular, the outcome document of the 2010 MDG Summit recognised the many interlinkages between the MDGs and identified a number of cross-cutting interventions in order to drive progress across all of the goals. It was recognised that achieving gender equality and expanding opportunities for women’s empowerment would significantly contribute to achieving the other goals. The Millennium Development Goals 2011 report provides an opportunity to see where we stand with regards to MDG3 in this article.
Table of Contents
- 1 MDG3 and development goals
- 2 MDG 3: Definition
- 3 Progress achievedUnited Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, June 2011, NY, available at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/11_MDG%20Report_EN.pdf
- 4 Success stories at country level
- 5 See Also
- 6 Other progress-related articles
- 7 References
MDG3 and development goals
Gender equality and women’s empowerment is clearly a development multiplier. Many studies have shown that empowering women benefits society as a whole: it is correlated with higher human development outcomes, poverty reduction, and more.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said:
“When we empower women, we empower communities, nations and the entire human family”UN Women, Annual Report 2010-2011, available at: http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/UNwomen_AnnualReport_2010-2011_en.pdf
Here are some of the areas where women can make or already make a big difference:
- In developing countries, educating a girl opens more doors for her future employment, has a positive inter-generational effect as it ensures that her own children go to school, and means that she actively contributes to her family and community well-being, therefore breaking the poverty cycle. See more and contribute on: Development and Poverty and on Child Well-being and Gender Inequality.
- Similarly, women are key to ensuring a sustainable development as they hold considerable and sometimes unique knowledge on biodiversity (plants, species, remedies) and so they need to be involved at all stages of the decision-making process in this area. See more and contribute on: Biodiversity.
- Women are under-represented in peace negotiation, and should be involved at all levels in humanitarian interventions and peacebuilding processes. See more and contribute on: Peace and Security.
Where do you think gender should be mainstreamed? What gaps does the evidence suggest? Write your article.
MDG 3: Definition
MDG 3 = Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Target 3.A.: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015
3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament
Progress achievedUnited Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, June 2011, NY, available at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/11_MDG%20Report_EN.pdf
According to the MDG Report 2011, there is overall progress but it is very uneven across the regions.
3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
| Gender parity achieved | Girls surpass boys | Areas of concern | |
| Primary Education | Caucasus and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, South-Eastern Asia | Eastern Asia | Northern Africa, Oceania, Southern Asia,sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia |
| Secondary Education | Caucasus and Central Asia, Northern Africa and South-Eastern Asia | Eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean | Oceania, Southern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia |
| Tertiary Education | Eastern Asia, Northern Africa | Caucasus and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, South-Eastern Asia | Oceania, Southern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia |
3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
Globally, the share increased from 35% in 1990 to almost 40% in 2009. But progress has slowed due to the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis.
The greatest improvement can be seen in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, while the situation in Northern Africa remains similar to its 1990s period, where fewer than 1 in 5 paid jobs in the non-agricultural sector are held by women (as in Western Asia).
Also, with the global crisis, unemployment rates increased, and women were especially hit in the manufacturing sector.
3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament
There is a slow progress with regards to this particular target, with a world average of women parliamentarians of 19.3% by the end of January 2011, compared with 11.6% in 1995.There are also differences across countries.
There are some success stories in Rwanda (56.3), Sweden (44.5%), South Africa (44.5%) or Cuba (43.2%). But 48 countries still have less than 10% female representation in their parliaments, and 9 countries have no women parliamentarians at all: Belize, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Oman, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
In terms of progress at the regional level, Northern Africa has made the most significant progress with women’s representation increasing from 9 to 11.7% between 2010 and 2011. In Western Asia, the figures rose from 4.2% in 2000 to 9.4% in 2011. In the Americas, women in Costa Rica, for example, represent 38.6% of parliamentarians. Sub-Saharan Africa has also seen recent progress. The only regions that saw no progress are Southern Asia and South-Eastern Asia.
Quotas continue to prove successful in ensuring that women become members of the parliament: the MDG 2011 report states that “legislated quotas or voluntary quotas have been implemented for 67 per cent of the lower houses with 30 % or more women members”.
At higher level, in January 2011, 10 countries had female heads of state and 13 had female heads of government.
Success stories at country level
- According to UNDP, while Bhutan still has to improve gender parity at tertiary education and increase representation of women in parliaments, the country has made great progress towards ensuring gender parity in education both in primary and secondary education.UNDP, MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women in Bhutan, available at: http://www.undp.org.bt/mdg_three.htm Bhutan is also among the countries that have created their own initiatives looking at the priorities of citizens for greater well-being and prosperity for their societies.The Telegraph, by Dean Nelson, “Bhutan’s ‘Gross National Happiness’ index”, 2 March 2011, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/bhutan/8355028/Bhutans-Gross-National-Happiness-index.html Read more on Wikiprogress.
- In Mexico , the ‘Oportunidades’ conditional cash transfer programme increased secondary school enrolment rates of more than 20% for girls and 10% for boys in the targeted rural areas.United Nations, Brief examples of country progress, available at: http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/successstories.shtml
- Bangladesh closed its gender gap in primary and secondary education within 10 years’time.
Read about the situation of MDG 3 in Gender Equality in Tanzania#Millennium Development Goals 3.3.3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women Gender Equality in Tanzania, Ivory Coast#Millennium Development Goal .233 Ivory Coast and Gender Equality in Rwanda#Millennium Development Goal .233 Gender Equality in Rwanda. Complete [Countries:World|other country pages] with an MDG 3 focus.
References
See Also
- MDG Summit 2010
Other progress-related articles
- See [Wikigender Progress Series|Wikigender Progress Series]