Transcript 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.

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 hunger
 Achieve universal primary education
 Promote gender equality and empower women
 Reduce child mortality
 Improve maternal health
 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other
diseases
 Ensure environmental sustainability
 Develop a global partnership for development
Analysis of
MDGs
The MDGs are:
• A set of targets;
• of a quantitative nature;
• that are time-bound;
• and express key elements of human
development
Analysis of
MDGs…
 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 of
MDGs…
A notable example of the genderblindness in the MDGs is regarding the
income-poverty eradication goal…
Analysis of
MDGs…
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 of
MDGs…
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 towards
many of the MDGs through initiatives that led to:
- A rise in life expectancy,
2.
3.
4.
- A decline in child and
maternal mortality,
- A fall in illiteracy rate,
- And a large proportion of
the people are enjoying
access to safe water and
sanitation
However…
The MDGs in
Arab Countries
- 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
MDGs
Halving hunger
Net primary enrolment
Gender equality in primary education
Under 5 mortality
Access to water (urban)
Access to water (rural)
Access to sanitation
On
Track
5
6
9
13
7
5
13
Off
Track
7
7
9
9
5
6
3
No
Data
10
9
4
0
10
11
6
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 Egypt
Goals 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
Probable
• Percentage of population
under national poverty line
• Net enrollment in primary
education
• Ratio of illiterate womento-men (15-24 years)
• Infant mortality rate
• Maternal mortality rate
Challenges
• Share of women in wage
employment in the nonagriculture 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 and
secondary education preferably by
2005 and to all levels of education
no later than 2015.
Achieving Goal 3:
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 5:
mproving Maternal
Health
Achieving Goal 5:
•
•
•
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.
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