Millennium Development Goals

And Women’s Empowerment

Maya Morsy

UNIFEM Coordinator

Egypt

Cairo 10th September

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted by

189 member states in the Millennium Summit of United Nations in 2000. These states have pledged to achieve the

MDGs by 2015.

The Millennium Development Goals:   

Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerAchieve universal primary educationPromote gender equality and empower womenReduce child mortality Improve maternal healthCombat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseasesEnsure environmental sustainabilityDevelop a global partnership for development

Analysis ofMDGs

The MDGs are:• A set of targets;• of a quantitative nature;• that are time-bound;• and express key elements of human

development

the MDGs fail to specify the developmental effect on women despite their important role as beneficiaries and contributors

2 out of 8 goals directly address women (Goal 3 and Goal 5). Yet, these goals do not achieve fairness to women as they concentrate on the quantitative aspect of these goals and their indicators

Analysis ofMDGs…

Analysis ofMDGs…

A notable example of the gender-blindness in the MDGs is regarding the income-poverty eradication goal… 

Analysis ofMDGs…

Nowhere does this goal indicate that the proportion of poor and hungry women is higher than men. It is a well known fact that two thirds of the world’s poor are women, and neglecting to address this issue means that even if extreme poverty is halved by 2015, two thirds of the remaining will be women.

Analysis ofMDGs…

The selective focus of the MDGs presents a narrower perspective than that of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) that was influenced by the advocacy of women’s movements.

Thus, the BPFA is more relevant to achieving equality and empowering women than the MDGs

The MDGs in Arab Countries

The Arab countries have made progress towardsmany of the MDGs through initiatives that led to:

- A rise in life expectancy,2. - A decline in child and maternal

mortality,3. - A fall in illiteracy rate, 4. - And a large proportion of the

people are enjoying access to safe water and sanitation

However…

- The progress towards achieving the MDGs is not a constant stable one. Uneven progress, ranging from fast to regressing reflects the dissimilarity between the countries of the region.

- Differences in human development within countries are apparent as well.

The MDGs in Arab Countries

The MDGs in Arab Countries

MDGsOn Track

Off Track

No Data

Halving hunger5710Net primary enrolment679Gender equality in primary education 994

Under 5 mortality1390Access to water (urban)7510Access to water (rural)5611Access to sanitation1336

The MDGs in Arab Countries

Based on the available data, the countries of the region fall in three groups almost equal in size:

one-third are on track or ahead of the curve for reaching the 2015 targets,

one-third are stagnant or regressing and are unlikely to meet the MDGs without concerted efforts;

and one-third lack relevant and reliable data

MDGs Tracking Indicators in EgyptMDGs Tracking Indicators in Egypt

Goals MetGoals Met

• Percentage of population below $1 per day

• Poverty gap (using national poverty line)

• Ratio of girls-to-boys in secondary education

• Ratio of girls-to-boys in tertiary education

• Prevalence of malaria

• Proportion of population with access to water

ProbableProbable

• Percentage of population under national poverty line

• Net enrollment in primary education

• Ratio of illiterate women-to-men (15-24 years)

• Infant mortality rate

• Maternal mortality rate

ChallengesChallenges

• Share of women in wage employment in the non-agriculture sector

• Percentage of seats held by women in Consultative Assembly

• Percentage of seats held by women in People’s Council

Achieving Goal 3:

Promoting gender equality and

empowering women

Goal 3 aims at eliminating gender disparities in primary andsecondary education preferably by2005 and to all levels of educationno later than 2015.

Although the region might not fulfill the MDG target by 2005, indicators strongly suggest that it will do so by 2015.

Achieving Goal 3:

The potential for achieving gender equality in primary schools varies within the region from one country to another.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory are already close to gender parity

Nine countries are expected to meet the target.

Another seven need to accelerate their rate of advancement,

And two countries need to reverse declining trends.

Achieving Goal 3:

• Gender inequalities are also present in employment, where the average share of employed women does not exceed 20% in most cases. The lowest women’s participation is 7% in Yemen, and no country surpasses 30%

• In the legislative arena, gender equality falls short as women have not been able to occupy more than 25% of the seats of any parliament in the region.

Achieving Goal 3:

Achieving Goal 5:

Improving Maternal Health

• generally, maternal mortality declines when skilled health professionals attend births as they can efficiently handle emergencies

• Yet, despite recent improvements, more than one third of women in countries like Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen still give birth in the absence of professional support.

• By contrast, other countries in the region like Jordan and Kuwait, less than 5% of births are without professional support.

Achieving Goal 5:

Status of women and the role of

MDGs:

As women’s organizations and networks push forward to strengthen their position and overcome their vulnerability, they advocate and actively work towards better recognition and legislation. For that reason, they have been utilizing existing developmental tools to enhance women’s human rights.

And now that the MDGs are formulated, and a political commitment towards achieving these goals is expressed by 189 countries, a new tool to actualize their goals is presented to women

The MDGs include achieving equality and empowering women, and improving maternal health. These two goals offer a direct channel through which women can reach the status they work towards…

However…

Women can embrace the other goals and employ them to serve gender equality by gender-sensitizing their indicators. And since women are important key players in achieving the MDGs, this will result in synergy towards achieving the goals on a larger scope.

This can be attained if the

MDGs are harmonized with the

provisions of the CEDAW and

the BPFA.

Since these three are synonymous in terms of human development, this can be done without negatively affecting the effectiveness of any of the components

For example:

Goal 1 aims at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger…

•Due to its large scope, Goal 1 fails to address women as a crucial factor since two thirds of the poor are women.

Thus, incorporating the provisions of CEDAW and BPFA into this goal would result in a more inclusive gender-sensitive goal and indicators

CEDAW: Eliminate discrimination against women to ensure the same rights for men and women in employment. (Article 11)

Ensure men and women equality in all areas of economic and social life, and in particular the same rights to bank loads and all forms of financial credit (Article 13.b)

ensure rural women enjoy adequate living conditions, especially in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply,and transport and communication. (Article 14.2h)

BPFA: Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women’s equal rights and access to economic resources (strategic objective A.2)

Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminization of poverty (strategic objective A.4)

Promote harmonization of work and family responsibilities for women and men (strategic objective F.6)

“We have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. As leaders we have a duty therefore to all the world’s people, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children of the world, to whom the future belongs”

Millennium Declaration, 2000

Thank you