Gender and the Millennium Development Goals

It has now been five years since the landmark United Nations Millennium Declaration
and related Development Goals (MDGs), wad adopted by Member States. The
Declaration is a blueprint for action and has created a political momentum which
holds great potential not only for improving the rights and empowerment of
women, but more fundamentally for achieving the MDGs. The targets and indicators
represent concrete benchmarks to measure progress on the eight development
goals.
The 2000 Millennium Declaration commits States to promote gender equality and
the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger, disease
and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable.
The acknowledgement that the achievement of women’s rights and equality is central
to the achievement of social and economic development is a significant achievement.
This issue of Gender Dialogue, looks at gender equality and women’s empowerment
and the achievement of the MDGs.