Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

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A problem with a solution 29 Box 1.1 Seven strategic priorities for action on Millennium Development Goal 3 1. Strengthen opportunities for postprimary education for girls while meeting commitments to universal primary education. 2. Guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights. 3. Invest in infrastructure to reduce women’s and girls’ time burdens. 4. Guarantee women’s and girls’ property and inheritance rights. 5. Eliminate gender inequality in employment by decreasing women’s reliance on informal employment, closing gender gaps in earnings, and reducing occupational segregation. 6. Increase women’s share of seats in national parliaments and local government bodies. 7. Combat violence against girls and women found in many societies. Education may be an important precondition to women’s empowerment, but it does not guarantee that empowerment. For this to occur, women must also enjoy equal rights with men, equal economic opportunities, use of productive assets, freedom from drudgery, equal representation in decisionmaking bodies, and freedom from the threat of violence and coercion. Achieving true gender equality and women’s empowerment requires a different vision for the world, not just piecemeal rectification of different aspects of inequality. 4 The task force’s vision is of a world in which men and women work together as equal partners to secure better lives for themselves and their families. In this world women and men share equally in the enjoyment of basic capabilities, economic assets, voice, and freedom from fear and violence. They share the care of children, the elderly, and the sick; the responsibility for paid employment; and the joys of leisure. In this world the resources now used for war and destruction are invested in human development and well-being, institutions and decisionmaking processes are open and democratic, and all human beings treat each other with respect and dignity. It is our vision of such a world, together with our analysis of why women and men today rarely enjoy equality, that underlies the recommendations in this report.
Chapter 2 Task force perspective on gender equality and empowerment The task force affirms that gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals (box 2.1). Development policies and actions that fail to take gender inequality into account and that fail to enable women to be actors in those policies and interventions will have limited effectiveness and serious costs to societies (World Bank 2003c). The reverse is also true: achievement of Goal 3 depends on how well each of the other goals addresses gender-based constraints and issues (box 2.2). Thus, this task force believes that achieving Goal 3 depends both on the extent to which the priorities suggested here are addressed and the extent to which the actions taken to achieve the other Goals promote equality of boys and girls and men and women. While this interdependence among the Goals is important, the task force wishes to underscore that Goal 3 has intrinsic value in and of itself. That is why this report focuses on priorities and actions to achieve Goal 3. Defining gender equality and empowerment Like race and ethnicity, gender is a social construct. It defines and differentiates the roles, rights, responsibilities, and obligations of women and men. The innate biological differences between females and males form the basis of social norms that define appropriate behaviors for women and men and determine the differential social, economic, and political power between the sexes. Although the specific nature and degree of these differing norms vary across societies and across time, at the beginning of the twenty-first century they still typically favor men and boys, giving them more access than women and girls to the capabilities, resources, and opportunities that are important for the enjoyment of social, economic, and political power and well-being. In addressing Goal 3, the task force has focused on the historical disadvantage experienced by women and on how gender norms and the policies based on those
Page 2 and 3: The UN Millennium Project is an ind
Page 4 and 5: Task Force on Hunger Halving hunger
Page 6 and 7: Foreword The world has an unprecede
Page 8 and 9: Contents Foreword iii Task force me
Page 10 and 11: Contents vii Chapter 12 Making it h
Page 12 and 13: Contents ix 4.1 HIV prevalence rate
Page 14 and 15: Task force members Task force coord
Page 16 and 17: Preface At the Millennium Summit in
Page 18 and 19: Acknowledgments The authors would l
Page 20 and 21: Abbreviations AGI CEDAW CRC DALY DD
Page 22: Millennium Development Goals xix
Page 25 and 26: 2 Executive summary Achieving Goal
Page 27 and 28: 4 Executive summary Gender inequali
Page 29 and 30: 6 Executive summary Sexual and repr
Page 31 and 32: 8 Executive summary The time spent
Page 33 and 34: 10 Executive summary Several types
Page 35 and 36: 12 Executive summary Employmentenha
Page 37 and 38: 14 Executive summary Gender quotas
Page 39 and 40: 16 Executive summary Infrastructure
Page 41 and 42: 18 Executive summary Box 1 Proposed
Page 43 and 44: 20 Executive summary A transformati
Page 45 and 46: 22 Executive summary Women’s orga
Page 47 and 48: 24 Executive summary The internatio
Page 49 and 50: 26 Executive summary The next 10 ye
Page 51: 28 Chapter 1 Genuine equality means
Page 55 and 56: 32 Chapter 2 Box 2.2 Achieving the
Page 57 and 58: 34 Chapter 2 The task force believe
Page 59 and 60: Chapter 3 Strengthen opportunities
Page 61 and 62: 38 Chapter 3 Higher levels of educa
Page 63 and 64: 40 Chapter 3 Female education can r
Page 65 and 66: 42 Chapter 3 All regions except Sou
Page 67 and 68: 44 Chapter 3 Table 3.4 Primary scho
Page 69 and 70: 46 Chapter 3 Table 3.7 Enrollment r
Page 71 and 72: 48 Chapter 3 Scholarship programs h
Page 73 and 74: 50 Chapter 3 Decreasing the distanc
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Page 77 and 78: 54 Chapter 4 Sexual and reproductiv
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Page 81 and 82: 58 Chapter 4 Figure 4.1 Rates of ea
Page 83 and 84: 60 Chapter 4 Interventions to impro
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Page 89 and 90: Chapter 5 Invest in infrastructure
Page 91 and 92: 68 Chapter 5 Figure 5.2 Women are t
Page 93 and 94: 70 Chapter 5 Taking women’s perce
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Page 99 and 100: 76 Chapter 6 Effective land rights
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80 Chapter 6 In Sub-Saharan Africa
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82 Chapter 6 Land markets have been
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84 Chapter 6 and recording women’
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86 Chapter 6 At the international l
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Chapter 7 Reduce gender inequality
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90 Chapter 7 In only 17 of 110 coun
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92 Chapter 7 Table 7.3 Female share
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94 Chapter 7 Gender gaps in earning
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96 Chapter 7 An important strategy
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98 Chapter 7 For poor women, public
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100 Chapter 7 Many developed and de
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102 Chapter 7 Decent, productive wo
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Chapter 8 Increase women’s repres
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106 Chapter 8 Only 14 countries hav
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108 Chapter 8 Experience offers fou
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Chapter 9 Combat violence against w
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112 Chapter 9 Surveys often find th
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114 Chapter 9 The economic, social,
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116 Chapter 9 Interventions for com
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118 Chapter 9 Communities play an i
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120 Chapter 9 Box 9.1 Mainstreaming
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Chapter 10 Data and indicators for
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124 Chapter 10 Box 10.1 Proposed in
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126 Chapter 10 The task force recom
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128 Chapter 10 Improving countries
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Chapter 11 The financial costs of i
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132 Chapter 11 A gender needs asses
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134 Chapter 11 empower women. For e
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136 Chapter 11 costs of setting up
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Chapter 12 Making it happen Althoug
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140 Chapter 12 Gender analysis invo
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142 Chapter 12 Through legislation,
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144 Chapter 12 The reporting obliga
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146 Chapter 12 Box 12.2 Cambodia: t
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148 Chapter 12 Box 12.3 Chile: the
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150 Chapter 12 Box 12.5 South Afric
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152 Chapter 12 Poverty reduction st
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154 Chapter 12 The next 10 years pr
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156 Appendix 1 illiterate, while th
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158 Appendix 1 Box A1.1 Regional cl
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160 Appendix 1 Table A1.3 Country p
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162 Appendix 1 are likely to fall b
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164 Appendix 1 Table A1.7 Female an
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174 Appendix 1 Table A1.10 Adult fe
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176 Appendix 1 Table A1.10 Adult fe
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Appendix 2 Reproductive health stat
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Appendix 3 Employment statistics Ta
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182 Appendix 3 Table A3.2 Maternity
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184 Appendix 3 Table A3.2 Maternity
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186 Appendix 3 Table A3.3 Women’s
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188 Appendix 3 Table A3.3 Women’s
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190 Appendix 4 Table A4.1 Share of
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192 Appendix 4 Table A4.3 Results o
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Appendix 6 Summary of e-discussion
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200 Appendix 6 caveats to be consid
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202 Appendix 6 political opportunit
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204 Appendix 6 investment in infras
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206 Appendix 6 does not lower women
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208 Appendix 6 • Conduct public a
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210 Appendix 6 women—hardly a gen
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212 Appendix 6 commented on gender-
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214 Appendix 6 clear is the extent
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216 Notes from many different count
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218 Notes 5. A condition of such ow
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220 Notes 14. The pension is paid o
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222 Notes Chapter 11 1. Using data
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References Aboim, M. 2002. “Brazi
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226 References Aromolaran, A. 2002.
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228 References Bid, P., R. Nanavaty
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230 References Case, A., and A. Dea
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232 References ———. 2001. Emp
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234 References Floro, M. 1995. “E
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236 References Harding, S. 1996.
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238 References ———. 2000. “
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240 References Kaufmann, D., A. Kra
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242 References son-Kuhn, and J. Haa
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244 References Mladjenvoic, L., and
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246 References Ostro, B. J., M. San
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248 References Rehn, E., and E. Joh
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250 References Global Technical Con
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252 References UNAIDS. 2003a. Acces
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254 References United Nations Secre
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256 References ———. 1999. “
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Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

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