Finding gender in the MDGs/Retrouver le genre dans les objectifs de Develppement du Millenaire (ODM).

• Author: Lowe-Morna, Colleen

10 September 2005

As the world's attention shifts to the Millennium Review Summit taking place in New York from 12-14 September, Southern African gender activists are asking a critical question: Where is gender in the MDGs?

The inter-connected world we live in demands a standard set of measures to keep us focused on the common goal of humanity.

In his report, In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan argues that the "world must advance the causes of security, development and human rights together, otherwise none will succeed. Humanity will not enjoy security without development; it will not enjoy development without security; and it will not enjoy either without respect for human rights."

Gender equality is intrinsic to all these lofty ideals. Unless women are able to exercise their human rights freely in societies in which they are equal, true development will not take place.

As a response to the immediate crises facing the globe, the MDGs focus on the immediate; the practical and the tangible. Many of these targets (health, education) etc ring of the earlier days of the Women in Development (WID) as opposed to Gender and Development (GAD) discourse.

Thus the only target under promoting gender equality and empowering women is eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015.

This is a laudable goal, but hardly one that on its own will ensure "gender equality and the empowerment of women"! For a start, reducing gender disparities in primary and secondary education is no longer such a major issue; in many countries this has been achieved or is close to being achieved. In Southern Africa anyway, the issues are far more around girls poorer performance at secondary level as a result of teenage pregnancies; dual roles at home and at school; as well as glaring disparities at vocational and tertiary level.

Second, while education is a key factor in the empowerment of women, it is not the only factor. For example, there is no correlation between levels of education of women and their representation in decisionmaking. In Southern Africa, Mozambique--with the lowest levels of education--has among the highest percentage of women in decision-making while Mauritius, with the highest levels of education, has among the lowest levels of women in decision-making.

The difference between the two countries is that while one has a progressive constitution and history of struggle, the other is steeped in conservative religious and traditional practices. It is not possible to talk of...