Millennium Development Goals: Commitment to women and girls needed now
World leaders gathered in New York on September 25, 2008 for a high-level event convened by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the President of the UN General Assembly to renew commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and to set out concrete plans and practical steps for action.
The meeting came after ‘The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008’ was released. ‘Looking ahead to 2015 and beyond, there is no question that we can achieve the overarching goal: we can put an end to poverty,” Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon states in the foreword to the report. “But it requires an unswerving, collective, long-term effort.”
Although the report included successful progress in some MDG areas such as the news that reducing absolute poverty by half is within reach for the world, other goals such as MDG 3 that promotes gender equality and empowerment of women showed signs for concern.
The target for MDG3 is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.
Economic justice for women by 2015 also continues to be a challenge with the MDG 2008 report stating almost two thirds of employed women in the developing world are in vulnerable jobs as own-account or unpaid family workers.
And although the upcoming elections in the United States would have the world believe women are the new focal point of politics, the MDG report 2008 paints another picture. In one third of developing countries, women account for less than 10% of parliamentarians. Despite overall greater parliamentary participation, women are largely absent from the highest levels of governance. In January 2008, women accounted for 7 of the 150 elected heads of state and 8 of the 192 heads of governments of United Nations Member States. Overall, only 16 per cent of the world’s ministerial positions were held by women. Within this total, 13 countries had no women at all in cabinet positions, although women held at least 30 % of the ministerial posts in 22 countries – mostly in Europe and Africa.
Women’s representation in other arenas was also flagged as important. Women account, on average, for half of those in refugee camps, but their participation in camp decision –making process remains low.
Denmark committed to doubling development assistance to gender equality and women’s rights in 2008 to close to $80 million. In total, one hundred commitments towards MDG3 were announced as part of the MDG3 Torch event hosted by Denmark and Liberia, including a $100 million commitment by Goldman Sachs.
Major donor countries and partners at the high level meeting announced other major commitments including more than $4.5 billion for education and $3 billion for malaria. Developing countries also announced commitments to mobilise domestic programmes aimed at achieving the universally agreed anti-poverty goals by the target date of 2015.
At the closing of the high level meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seemed hopeful that the new commitments could accelerate the MDGs. “I am grateful for all the energy invested in this High-level Event by developed and developing countries, civil society, faith groups, foundations and the private sector. My great hope for today was that all development partners would join forces to accelerate MDG progress. We have succeeded. We did this together. And now, we must forge ahead. We must make it happen. “
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