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Monday 22 September 2008

In order to achieve the development and poverty reduction challenges that the MDGs have identified, much more attention needs to be paid to the gender inequalities that pervade all the MDGs, according to research by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Concerns about gender are only explicit in MDG 3 (gender equality in education, wage employment and national legislature) and MDG 5 (maternal mortality and universal access to reproductive health). But gender inequality causes and perpetuates poverty and vulnerability across the MDG spectrum, from fighting diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS to improving access to safe drinking water.

If the MDGs are to reduce poverty and promote sustainable economic growth, they must reverse their gender blindness and address gender specific risks and vulnerabilities.

A new ODI briefing paper on ‘Gender and the MDGs’ highlights the ways in which gender differences are often ignored in development solutions. For instance, while better immunisation coverage has made an important difference to child survival, if vaccines are to reach the poorest, more has to be done to address cultural gender biases. Boys in parts of Africa are much less likely to be immunised than girls, while in South Asia the opposite is often true. The paper identifies key areas of the MDGs where the gender dynamics of poverty need to be addressed. These include: improving resource ownership and access to services; recognising and supporting the value of unpaid care work, and empowering women as agents of change within the household, community, economic and political arenas.

Nicola Jones, Research Fellow – Knowledge, Policy and Power, ODI and co-author of ‘Gender and the MDGs’ said:

"Gender inequalities need to be tackled in order to accelerate progress on all the MDGs and to promote better results for women and men, boys and girls in international development.

"We need to go beyond just MDG 3, and think about gender targets for all the goals, whether it be supporting women to access better health care during pregnancy and after birth so as to reduce child mortality, or tackling the sexual violence that girls face en route to, or in, schools in many parts of the developing world. We also need to think about ways to encourage men to become more active in dismantling gender barriers, such as becoming more active in the care and health of their children."

An ODI event “Engendering pro-poor change: Putting gender at the heart of the MDGs” is being held at the UN Millennium Plaza Hotel on Tuesday 23 September from 9:00am - 11:30am.

Speakers include Rasheda K Chowdhury, Minister for Primary and Mass Education, Women and Children and Cultural Affairs, Bangladesh and Yassine Fall, UNIFEM Senior Economic Adviser to the UN Millennium Project as Senior Policy Adviser on Gender Equality. Both are available for interview

Notes to editors:

1) ODI Briefing Paper ‘Gender and MDGs’ is available here: http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/briefing-papers/42-gender-mdgs-poverty.pdf

2) More information on ODI work on the MDG Call to Action is available here: http://www.odi.org.uk/odi-on/call-to-action-mdgs/index.asp

3) An ODI event “Engendering pro-poor change: Putting gender at the heart of the MDGs” is being held on Tuesday 23rd September in New York. More information is available here: http://www.odi.org.uk/events/2008/09/23-engendering-pro-poor-change.html

4) ODI has recently launched a new programme on Social Development, in which gender is a key theme. Researchers across the institute are undertaking research on a range of gender-related themes, from health and immunisation policy to trade, and from poverty reduction and social protection to agriculture. For more information on this programme visit: http://www.odi.org.uk/programmes/social-development/default.asp

5) UNIFEM and MDG3 - UNIFEM is one of a number of UN agencies charged with helping countries move forward on the Millennium Development Goals, but it has the only specific mandate to advocate for gender equality. The fund assists efforts to monitor progress on the goals from a gender perspective, analyze steps to achieve them and spread awareness to encourage women’s participation:
http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals/

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