Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

202 Appendix 6
political opportunity for us to demand action now (and particularly at
the United Nations Heads of State Summit in Autumn 2005). Whilst
action on this target alone will not change everything we could at least
galvanize real global action on it—and this would be a great first step.
—D. Archer, United Kingdom.
Developing better indicators
The task force’s proposal of expanding the indicators measuring educational
attainment (by including completion rates) is noteworthy, as are the additional
three indicators to measure women’s empowerment and gender equality. Participants
suggested the need for more instruments to monitor and evaluate the
impact of international policy rhetoric at the village and NGO levels, the quality
of development programs, and transparency and accountability at all levels.
Participants suggested some tools that might be useful to this end, such as the
recently developed gender empowerment measure in education. 3
Another resource is a “scorecard” ranking the progress of Commonwealth
countries in Africa on girls’ education initiatives. Case studies on Kenya,
South Africa, and Uganda illustrate how NGO coalitions, governments, and
international agencies can develop a shared understanding of accountability
and approach the task of assessing progress toward reaching the Goal. 4 The
scorecard looks at access and retention in broader ways than the other existing
measures. It looks at not only the number of girls who attend and remain in
primary school but also whether those girls are able to translate that attendance
and retention into future schooling at a secondary level and have healthy lives
where they earn a reasonable income.
The report’s overview of the nuanced differences between gender parity and
gender equality was appreciated. Participants agreed that the target of the Millennium
Development Goal should be interpreted through equality benchmarks,
especially since achieving gender parity does not automatically translate to substantive
positive change in girls’ and young women’s status and life options. In
the Philippines, for example, it was pointed out that although national aggregated
statistics show a near parity between girls’ and boys’ access to education,
this has not led to a marked improvement in gender equality in society.
Lastly, one participant noted that gender inequality and poverty are complex
phenomena. “We are obsessed with maintaining a narrow goal with narrow
indicators because we assume that donor funds will not be increased to the level
required to achieve the wider agenda. However it is the wider agenda that correctly
addresses the complexity of poverty, which should be our framework for
action. This wider agenda is not new as it has been set by numerous covenants,
conferences, and programs of action (such as the 1994 International Conference
on Population and Development Programme of Action, a 20-year program,
covers many of the points we are discussing)” (M. Blackett, Uganda).