MDG Goal #3: Promote gender equality and empower women. Women who can plan the timing and number of their births will have greater opportunities for work, education and civil involvement. Discrimination and violence against girls and women not only abuse their human rights, but also rob society of critical energy, economic production and creative talent.

Facts at a Glance

• Women account for two thirds of the 1.2 billion people currently living in extreme poverty.¹
• Inequalities between girls and boys in access to schooling or adequate health care are more acute among poor people than among those with higher incomes.²
• Out of the 550 million working poor in the world, an estimated 330 million, or 60 per cent, are women.³
• Two thirds of the world’s 799 million illiterate people are women.⁴
• Eighty-three per cent of all girls who are missing out on school live in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.
• In 2005, about 17% of the seats in national parliaments were held by women.⁵
• In developing countries, women in the wage sector earn an average of 73% of what men earn; in industrialized countries, they earn 77%.⁶
• In industrialized countries, sexual assault and violence take away almost one in five healthy years of life of women ages 15-44.⁷
• Studies around the world have found that one woman in four is physically or sexually abused during pregnancy. Some studies indicate that women battered during pregnancy run twice the risk of miscarriage and four times the risk of having a low birth weight baby as women who are not battered. Violence may also be linked to a sizable portion of maternal deaths.⁸
• A large body of evidence shows that sexual and reproductive health and rights are central to women’s ability to build their capabilities, take advantage of economic and political opportunities, and control their destinies.⁹
• Providing girls one extra year of education beyond the average boosts eventual wages by 10 to 20%.¹⁰
• Failing to invest in girls’ education lowers a country’s Gross National Product.¹¹
• Educated girls have better opportunities participate in community life and decision-making. They are more informed about health risks such as HIV and AIDS. They also tend to marry later, have fewer, healthier, better-nourished children and are more likely to send their children to schools.¹²
• Countries where women’s share of seats in political bodies is less than 30 percent are less inclusive, less egalitarian, and less democratic.¹³

For Further Information

Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women. Task Force on Education and Gender Equality.

References

¹ DFID, DFID Factsheet on Gender, (London: DFID, 2004).
² D. Leipziger. Prepared for the Interactive Panel Discussion at the Forty-ninth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (New York, March 10, 2005).
³ International Labor Organization, March 2004. Global Employment Trends for Women, p2
⁴ UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Literacy, (accessed 3 March 2005).
⁵ United Nations. The Millennium Development Goals Report. (New York: UN, 2006)
⁶ UNFPA, State of the World Population 2002 (New York: UNFPA, 2002).
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ UN Millennium Project 2005. Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women. Task Force on Education and Gender Equality.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ B. Herz and G.B. Sperling, What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2004).
¹¹ Knowles, S. P., K. Lorgelly and P.D. Owen. 2002. Are Educational Gender Gaps a Brake on Economic Development? Some Cross-Country Empirical Evidence.” Oxford Economic Papers 554:118-149. 10
¹² DFID, Gender Equality (accessed May 12, 2008).
¹³ UN Millennium Project 2005.