DEVELOPMENT: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Aug 21 (IPS) - In order to advance towards the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gender equality cannot merely be limited to
a number of specific objectives, but must be the lens through which all the
targets are viewed, say experts and representatives of women's movements in
Argentina.
Women Matter - In All of the Millennium Goals
Marcela Valente
The eight MDGs were adopted by the United Nations member countries in
2000 as a platform for fighting inequality and poverty around the world. Most of
the goals are to be met by 2015.
"The Millennium Goals and Gender
Equality", an Aug. 16 seminar convened by U.N. agencies in Argentina, was
attended by representatives of women's groups and by women officials, who
discussed proposals for an approach to the MDGs that would incorporate the
gender perspective in all of the targets.
The MDGs include halving the
proportion of the population suffering from hunger and extreme poverty,
achieving universal primary education, drastically cutting infant and maternal
mortality rates, and fighting AIDS and other diseases.
One of the goals
is to "promote gender equality and empower women." But activists and women's
organisations in nearly every country believe that this goal, while valid in
itself, should be included at the design stage of public policy strategies for
every one of the other goals, too.
For example, to eradicate extreme
poverty, it is not enough merely to count the number of people affected, but
also to analyse the greater vulnerability of women within that population group,
as well as their differential access to basic services such as housing, health
or education.
With regard to jobs, it is not enough only to take into
account the impact of unemployment on men and women, but also the root causes
that explain the inequalities in their job opportunities, such as the greater
burden of domestic responsibilities or the glass ceilings that prevent women
from being promoted to higher and better-paid positions.
With these
concepts in mind, ECLAC and the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
proposed looking at what Latin American countries have done so far in the
direction of fulfilling the MDGs, through a gender perspective lens.
In
Argentina, the gender perspective was presented through the work of two experts,
who made recommendations and underscored how much has yet to be done.
One of the studies, by Claudia Giacometti -- "The Millennium Goals and
Gender Equality. The Case of Argentina" -- pointed to the lack of adequate
indicators that would reveal gender inequality, many aspects of which remain
hidden.
There is a lack of systematic information in sensitive areas for
monitoring gender problems and their correlation with poverty, Giacometti said.
The expert pointed to the wide disparities between the living conditions
of women in the cities --where the Permanent Household Survey of the National
Institute of Statistics and Censuses draws its data -- and those who live in
rural areas.
She also noted the lack of surveys measuring the use of
time, to analyse how much of the responsibility for domestic work falls on
women; the lack of systematic data on sexual and reproductive health; and the
lack of statistics broken down by gender to show what proportion of
decision-making positions in the public and private spheres are held by women.
However, it is not enough to disaggregate data by sex. New indicators
need to be designed, and all social development problems should be discussed
with a gender equality focus, said participants at the seminar. "This does not
imply that women are seen as vulnerable, but that they must be seen as subjects
with rights," said Rico.
Over the last three years, Argentina has curbed
its alarming indices of poverty and extreme poverty, and improved its health
services. The goal of universal primary education is also close to being met, as
it is in a large part of Latin America. Participation by women in productive
employment has also increased, but this is not true for all sectors.
The
president of the National Women's Council, María Colombo, told IPS that the
government is making progress towards fulfilling the MDGs, and that it plans to
include recommendations from women's groups in its second national report. "We
know that we have to go beyond what is stated in the goals, but they are a
start," she acknowledged.
"The MDGs are like a navigation chart, an
opportunity to make progress. But we must emphasise that social inequalities are
exacerbated when they overlap with gender inequalities, and that this presents
major challenges," Ana Falú, director of UNIFEM for Brazil and the Southern Cone
region, remarked to IPS.
"Women continue to face difficulties in getting
into the labour market, and not only the poorest women but also the most highly
educated, which means that universal education alone will not guarantee the same
return for years invested in studying for boys as for girls," Falú said.
To highlight the burden that the care of children imposes on women, and
its correlation with poverty, Giacometti noted that 65 percent of households
with no children under five were not classified as poor. However, only seven
percent of households with three or more children under five were not poor.
Here Giacometti called to mind the fact that coverage in Buenos Aires of
services for children under five is good, but that it is less satisfactory in
areas where it would be more needed (rural zones) in order to empower women and
boost their access to employment, education or health services.
Another
expert, Eleonor Faur, presented her work on the need to make explicit the
linkage between human rights and the MDGs, the inter-relationship between all
the MDGs, and the importance of having civil society monitor the programmes that
the State adopts to meet its obligations.
According to Faur, women's
growing participation in the labour force in Argentina is happening at a time
when the labour market is becoming ever more precarious, and it must be made
clear whether the jobs women occupy meet the principles of decent work.
Faur also insisted that problems like AIDS or maternal and child
mortality cannot be tackled successfully other than from a gender
perspective.
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