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26 February 2014
EU op-ed for 8 March 2014
Gender equality, women’s rights and women's empowerment as a
sustainable development goal
International Women's Day is not only an official event, but also a real occasion to celebrate
women and their irreplaceable contribution to the development of modern societies. We have all
been impressed by the hard work, expertise, resilience, good cheer and dedication of women
around the world.
As women are striving to shape the future of their countries, societies and families and to fight
for their human rights, International Women's Day is also a reminder that, equality between
women and men remains elusive in most countries including in Brazil and the EU Member States
despite their important advances in the last years. Discrimination against women is still pervasive
in all regions of the world.
As much as ever, global solidarity and action are needed. We stand at the eve of the deadline set
for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - the current blueprint for
national and international development efforts agreed to by all the world’s countries and leading
development institutions in 2000.
We are happy to see that substantial progress has been made so far in achieving the Goals, which
range from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to providing primary education to all
children, and also include MDG 3 on “promoting gender equality and empowering women” and
MDG 5 on “improving maternal health”, all by the target date of 2015.
The prospects for achieving all of the Goals differ sharply across and within countries and
regions. Evaluation of the MDG framework reveal a mixed picture that points to success in some
areas (e.g. in reducing extreme poverty, improving access to primary education), but less
progress in others (e.g. in reducing hunger and maternal mortality and in improving access to
sanitation). And across all the MDGs overall progress for women and girls remains slow.
The numbers are alarming: globally, 123 million youth lack basic reading and writing skills: 61 per
cent of them are young women. One girl in nine marries before the age of 15, many of them
becoming mothers by the age of 16. This has heavy consequences: pregnancy and child birth are
the biggest causes of death amongst adolescent girls. Last year 800 women worldwide died every
day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. And women are largely
relegated to the most vulnerable forms of employment and continue to bear most of the unpaid
care work. Violence against women continues to undermine efforts to reach all the Goals.
We now have the opportunity to change this. This year, the world is preparing a new “post-2015
development framework”, including a set of so called Sustainable Development Goals. In these
endeavours, we need to build on the lessons learned from the MDGs and acknowledge a simple
fact: A sustainable world that is without poverty depends on gender equality. Discrimination
against women perpetuates gender inequality and impedes further progress at all levels.
The EU and its Member States are convinced that – this time – we need to put women at the
centre of our development efforts. We need to firmly base the new framework on human rights,
eliminate inequalities, as well as promote and protect women's and girls' rights and gender
26 February 2014
equality. We also need to enhance the role of women as key actors to unlock the drive for
sustainable development.
We call for gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment to be reflected as a
specific goal in the new development framework, and to be integrated into each of the other
goals.
And to really make a difference, we must take bold steps: Our aim must be to transform gender
relations and to unleash the potential of the millions of women whose contributions are
historically excluded.
The EU is ready to join forces with Brazil and make the 21st century the century to empower
women and girls, and achieve equality between women and men, for the sake of a better life for
all of humanity.
(668 words)