WUNRN
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORT
2010 - UNDP - GENDER
07 July 2011
DOCUMENT HIGHLIGHTS
- Despite significant setbacks after
the 2008-2009 economic crisis, the world is on track to reach the MDG
poverty-reduction target by 2015.
- Some of the world’s poorest
countries, including Burundi, Rwanda, Samoa, Togo and the United Republic
of Tanzania, have made the greatest strides in education.
- Every region has made progress in
improving access to clean drinking water.
- Investments in preventing and
treating HIV have caused new HIV infections to drop by 21 percent since
1997, when they peaked.
- The number of deaths of children
under the age of five declined from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in
2009.
Quick Facts
- In 2008, there were 96 girls for
every 100 boys enrolled in primary school, and 95 girls for every 100 boys
in secondary school in developing regions.
- The share of women employed
outside of agriculture remains as low as 20 per cent in Southern Asia,
Western Asia and Northern Africa.
- The global share of women in
parliament continues to rise slowly and reached 19 per cent in 2010 — far
short of gender parity.
Gender gaps in access to education have
narrowed, but disparities remain high in university-level education and in some
developing regions. Girls’ enrolment ratios in primary and secondary schools
have significantly increased in recent years. Nevertheless, the 2005 target was
missed and major challenges remain, with large inequality gaps in primary education
in Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia.
Unequal access to
universities
Access to university-level education
remains highly unequal, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. In
these regions, only 67 and 76 girls per 100 boys, respectively, are enrolled in
tertiary education. Completion rates also tend to be lower among women than
men. Poverty is the main cause of unequal access to education, particularly for
girls of secondary-school age.
Low rates of women in
paid employment
Despite progress made, men continue to
outnumber women in paid employment, and women are often relegated to vulnerable
forms of employment. The share of women in paid non-agricultural wage
employment is slowly increasing and globally reached 41 per cent in 2008. It is
still as low as 20 percent in Southern Asia, Northern Africa and Western Asia,
and 32 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. Even when women are employed, they are
typically paid less and have less financial and social security than men. Women
are more likely than men to be in vulnerable jobs — characterized by inadequate
earnings, low productivity and substandard working conditions — especially in
Western Asia and Northern Africa, where paid employment opportunities for women
are the lowest. Globally, only one quarter of senior officials or managers are
women. In Western Asia, Southern Asia and Northern Africa, women hold less than
10 per cent of top-level positions.
Women are gaining
political power
Women are slowly gaining political power,
mainly thanks to quotas and special measures. Between 1995 and 2010, the share
of women in parliament, on a global level, increased from 11 per cent to 19 per
cent — a gain of 73 per cent, but far short of gender parity. Parliamentary
elections in 2009 contributed to rising gains for women in sub-Saharan Africa
and Latin America and the Caribbean, where 29 per cent and 25 per cent of the
renewed seats went to women, respectively. But 58 countries still have 10 per
cent or fewer female members of parliament. Progress in women’s representation
in the executive branches of government is even slower. In 2010, just nine of
151 elected heads of state and 11 of 192 heads of government were women.
Globally, women hold only 16 per cent of ministerial posts.
Affirmative action continues to be the key driver of progress for women. In
2009, the average share of women elected to parliament was 13 percentage points
higher — 27 per cent as opposed to 14 per cent — in countries that applied such
measures.