Vector Issue 12 - 2011

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3 MDG promote gender equality & empower women Tipping www.ghn.amsa.org.au 1. UNDP. Goal 3: promote gender equality and empower women. [Internet] 2010 [updated 2010; cited 2010 November 18]; Available from: http://www. undp.org/mdg/goal3.shtml. 2. UN. The Millennium Development Goals Report. New York; 2010 3. UNSD. Millennium Development Goals: Gender equality and women’s empowerment progress chart 2010. New York; 2010. 4. UNDP. Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. United Nations 2010 MDG Summit; New York. KEY FACTS MDG 3 seeks to promote gender equality and empower women. The empowerment of women has been linked to long term financial and social stability in communities across the globe. This is reflected in the 2000 Millennium Declaration, which states that the empowerment of women is an “effective way to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable 1 .” The achievement of the MDG is reflected in three key indicators, including the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education, the proportion of women employed in the non-agricultural sector, and the share of seats held by women in the national parliament 1 . The 2010 MDG Review Summit, held in New York in September, held a spotlight on the progress made towards achieving equality for and the empowerment of women. It provided a chance to reflect on what has been achieved thus far, and the barriers which remain towards achieving the full political, financial and social involvement of women on the world stage. Equality for women, however, is more than just an end in itself. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, stresses that it is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”In short, not much will happen until women have the chance to be equal on the playing field. Since 2000, documented progress has been made in achieving the third Millennium Development Goal, as reflected in greater gender parity in primary education in some nations. While the greatest advances have been made in Southern Asia, Sub- Saharan Africa, Western and Northern Africa have also documented improvement in female participation in the education sector 1 . Sadly, in Oceania, which in conjunction with Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Africa, has the poorest record of gender equity, there has been a slight reduction in parity in enrolment in primary education 1 . Similarly, the percentage 14 vector FEB <strong>2011</strong>
of women who share in employment in the nonagricultural sector remains at worryingly low levels in many African and South Asian nations 2 . Long-held cultural views of the secondary role of women in society provide a major barrier to the active participation of women in educational, financial and employment sectors. Drought, food shortages, conflict, failure to register births, child labour and the rise of HIV/AIDS further cripple progress by impeding school involvement and denying girls the opportunity to gain an education 1 . Beyond immediate crises, however, women are unable to achieve equal participation in society in the absence of appropriate infrastructure to unable to break the cycle of poverty and become active participants in the labour market 3 . Where women are denied an education, they are unable to make choices about the use of contraception, key to controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS and in enabling women to choose the timing of their children 3 . And where women are not empowered to become active decision makers, their needs continue to be unheard and unaddressed. alyssa fitzpatrick university of adelaide support their ongoing development. For example, in communities where water is not available by pipeline, girls are twice as likely as boys to be required to collect water, completing multiple long-distance trips and sacrificing time that could otherwise be used for education and employment. 3 Women’s economic involvement provides a conduit for improved livelihoods for themselves and their families, and improved health and educational opportunities for the children 3 . Where women are denied ownership and control of resources, they are ‘‘ investing in women ‘‘ and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, effiency and sustained economic growth review summit 2010 The 2010 Review Summit reiterated its commitment to promoting women’s social and economic involvement, stressing that investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth” and thus that a focus on women is key to ensuring continued progress and meaningful improvements in quality of life 4 . The 2010 Review Summit placed an emphasis on the continuing need to target gender equality through the launch of the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Progress Chart. Highlighting the promising increase in aid directed at improving parity in women’s involvement in recent years, it nonetheless called for further contributions to address this core concern 3 . However, the Summit also emphasised the need to ensure good sanitation and nutrition, and to combat HIV/AIDS, to facilitate women’s empowerment. It additionally reiterated the reciprocal dependency of achieving MDG 3 and realisation of the other core targets embodied in the Millennium Development Goals to achieve improvements in quality of life for all. At the heart of it, however, is the deep understanding that without equal opportunity for women, there will be continued barriers to achieving long-lasting and meaningful development. www.ghn.amsa.org.au vector FEB <strong>2011</strong> 15
Page 1 and 2: vector www.ghn.amsa.org.au Issue 12
Page 3 and 4: contents 4 EDITORIAL 5 8 Reflection
Page 5 and 6: arthur cheung university of queensl
Page 7 and 8: to be coordinated, is a poignant in
Page 9 and 10: http://www.good.is/post/which-count
Page 11 and 12: Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty a
Page 13: the need for interventions to be pr
Page 17 and 18: aWindowintoGlobalHealth vector FEB
Page 19 and 20: It would be simplistic to assume th
Page 21 and 22: Progress to date: MDG5 is the worst
Page 23 and 24: aWindowintoGlobalHealth Goal 3: Emp
Page 25 and 26: Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, a
Page 27 and 28: SNAPSHOT 33 million people are curr
Page 29 and 30: PLAY A PART AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE U
Page 31 and 32: key goals 1. Raise the commitment o
Page 33 and 34: several hundred million additional
Page 35 and 36: I recently undertook my medical ele
Page 37 and 38: alexandra f r a i n & l u k e hamil

Vector Issue 12 - 2011

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?