THE PERFORMANCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION (original) (raw)
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The First UN Millennium Development Goal
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In the UN Millennium Declaration of the year 2000, the 191 member states of the UN committed themselves to the plan “to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.” This is the first and most prominent of altogether eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as listed on the UN website.
Women and the Millennium Development Goals: too little, too late, too gendered
The United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent an ambitious set of indicators, initiatives and calls to action. Specific goals such as MDG 6 to combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases has seen ambition surge in the creation of new actors and sources of finance primed to address the issues and respond effectively to the indicators. Yet other goals have been found wanting, specifically MDG 5 to improve maternal health and MDG 3 to promote gender equality. These goals have seen increased interest since 2010, but the previous ten years of neglect suggests something quite telling about the relationship between the MDGs and women. Not only have these goals been somewhat neglected, but efforts to deliver on the other goals have in part undermined work towards gender equality and improving the lives of women through the reassertion of gendered norms of women as carers and mothers. Women have occupied a fundamental position in the delivery of the MDGs, yet their labor is seen as freely given. This chapter argues that despite the MDGs outlining ambitious plans for women; their equality, their health and that of their children, the goals have in fact been too little, too late and too gendered. Women have become the stubborn issue of development that fails to go away yet remains vital to its success. The chapter explores the role of women in the MDGs and how interventions-projects, policies, poverty alleviation tools, and institutions-established to reach the goals have been too little and too late and have undermined efforts to help women living in poverty. It does so by first outlining the inclusion of women in the MDGs, the priority areas around issues of gender inequality and how the UN system has responded to such priorities. Second, the chapter focuses on the too little and too late by exploring the lack of action on MDG 5, the lack of gender in strategies for maternal and child health and the role of the UN Fund for Women (UNIFEM), now UN Women. Third, the chapter considers how the MDGs have been too gendered in delivery and strategy in their embedding of gender norms between men and women. This section explores how re-enforcement of gender norms-specifically women as carers and mothers-have delayed progress in poverty alleviation rather than heightened it. The chapter then situates the issue of women and gender with wider institutional problems pertaining to the MDG process before offering several recommendations for how the future development agenda beyond 2015 could benefit women living in poverty. Women in the MDGs Previous to the MDGs women were included in the development process through the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that recognizes women's rights and gender equality as human rights fundamental to peace and development, exacerbated by poverty and conflict. 1 Women's rights have been advanced within the UN by various legal declarations and initiatives on the status of women in the world such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Declaration of the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the Declaration on the Right to Development within the UN's Declaration on Human Rights. As part of the UN such declarations are binding on member states around the world and compel the various bodies of the UN to action. Key UN agencies that are central to poverty alleviation and development include specialized units on women and gender-such as the Gender and Development section of the World Bank and the UN Girls Education Initiative housed in the UN 1 UN, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, (New York: UN, 1995), http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA%20E.pdf. Children's Fund (UNICEF)-established to eliminate gender inequality and to promote the rights and roles of women in all aspects of social, political and economic life. It is through these declarations, institutional responsibility and UN projects such as five year plans for the Advancement of Women that women were included in the development process prior to the MDGs. However, despite such inclusion these issues and projects tended to occupy a sideline in development policy-making and processes, with women and gender being tacked-on to existing projects. Since the introduction of the MDGs, specialized projects, units, and conventions have emerged to attempt to fully integrate women into the everyday workings of the UN and the wider development community. In statement of intent, at least, women became the core objective of the MDGs. Women and gender are specifically highlighted as a stand-alone issue in MDG 3 to promote gender equality and empower women and feature in targets 1.B-full and productive employment including women and 2.A-both boys and girls complete primary education. 2 Such inclusion indicates specific recognition on the part of the UN and the international community of the link between gender inequality and poverty. The goals are framed in a specific way to focus on the experiences of women living in poverty and to recognize women as fundamental to the development process. This is evident in the emphasis and support placed on training and developing the skills and campaigns of women as political candidates, increasing women's access to microfinance and specific skill development for paid employment, and campaigns to end violence against women. 3 Commitment to such initiatives by a range of UN agencies-UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF, UN Women, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank-in funding and leadership 2 UN, Develop a Global Partnership for Development,
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GENDER EQUALITY AND THE UN DEVELOPMENT GOALS
GENDER EQUALITY AND THE UN DEVELOPMENT GOALS, 2018
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