ABSTRACT
What do the Millennium Development Goals represent for advocates of gender equality in development? ‘Gender’ features explicitly in the Millennium Development Goals in two ways: in relation to improvements in maternal health, and to the elimination of gender disparity in education. Education is doubly emphasised, as it is also viewed as a vehicle for promoting gender equality and empowerment. Improved educational status, increased share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector, and the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments are represented as indicators of the increased gender equality and empowerment of women. The goals of poverty and hunger eradication and reduced child mortality, however, are framed with no specific reference to gender, although some agencies report gender-disaggregated indicators.
