YoungMDG :: Explore

Time Left To Achieve The MDGs

Did You Know...

Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than 2015.

Introduction:
Women are a big part of their families, societies and countries. It's not realized how huge women's effect on well-being actually is. Often cultural reasons cause that. Women's status has become better in recent years, but some things are still not equal.

More >

Glossary

Search through our glossary for any confusing terms

It all starts when women are only girls. Boys are always more respected and they get better chances get educated. Girls have to do most of the household duties, so they don't even have time to study. A part of the whole problem is that even parents think that daughters are not as good as sons. Still for example UN thinks that if women got educated, making countries better places to live would be way faster.

Go>

The Eight Main Goals:

Goal 1: Poverty

Goal 2: Education

Goal 3: Gender Equality

About Target 4:
Knowing how to read is one of the most important skills to help women to take control of their own lives. If they don't know how to read, they can't really get well educated. Educating women is a key for many problems. It is a part of the answer for how to reduce poverty. Educated women know what they are doing and they take better care of their children. That makes children's chances of surviving a lot better. They become healthier and better educated as well.

In poor countries very few children are able to go to school and complete it. In those countries most of the few children, who complete school, are boys. All this you are able to notice, when you look at the number of people who are able to read. In most regions more of young men are able to read than women. Luckily the number of women who are able to read has gone up a little between years 1990 and 2002.

Goal 4: Child Mortality

Goal 5: Maternal Health

Goal 6: HIV/AIDS and other diseases

Goal 7: Environment

Goal 8: Global Partnership

The chart above shows the number of women in the US parliament. Courtesy of www.ttparliament.org

Educational inequalities are not the only ones. Even if men and women were equal at school, other differences continue. Men have often more legal rights than women. Women do most of the household duties at home. Women cannot take part in politics the way men can. Even though in most countries women have the right to vote and be elected, women still have problems with using their right. Globally 15 percent of seats in parliaments were held by women in 2003. The number has grown a little since 1987.

Another thing is that men get a job more easily than women do. During last ten years there has been only a little progress. Slowly some more women are employed.

It's already been mentioned that women have a big effect on well-being. Promoting gender equality is closely linked with child mortality, education and other goals.