WUNRN
Direct Link to Text - Via Center for
Women's Global Leadership
Special Event of the President of
the UN General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals
Post 2015: Women's
Rights, Gender Equality & Sustainable Development
Statement by Savi Bisnath, PhD, CWGL,
Rutgers University, savi.bisnath@rutgers.edu
The Millennium Development Goals
A strength
of the MDG framework is its focus on time bound goals and targets, though there
are significant weaknesses in many of the indicators used to chart progress.
Clear
weaknesses of the framework are that the goals, targets and indicators: (i)
only apply to developing countries; (ii) ignore economic inequality within and
between countries; and (iii) detach development from accountability mechanisms
provided by human rights.
A clear
weakness in the goal of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment is a
lack of focus on realizing women’s rights. There is no specific attention to
the unpaid economy, even though it is critical for both the care of human
beings and the care of the environment.
The Interim
As we move
towards 2015, we are all cognizant that a lot has changed in the last 13 years
since the Millennium Summit. With the rapid growth of emerging economies and
the crisis in countries of the Global North, the traditional distinctions
between developed and developing are becoming increasingly blurred.
The
changes and the realities on the ground make it clear that the post 2015
sustainable development agenda must focus on the enabling environment and
economic structures that limit the realization of women’s rights.
Key Priorities for the 2015 Sustainable
Development Agenda
There is a
lot of talk about a stand alone gender goal, and if there is to be another set
of internationally agreed goals, the gender goal should have at its core the
realization of women’s rights and gender equality. It should be a broad goal,
with integrated targets and indicators across sectors.
Framing
the post 2015 sustainable development agenda in terms of women’s rights and
social justice provides a context for the choice and use of quantitative
indicators. This would mean addressing violence against women and reproductive
and sexual health and rights, as well as the current macroeconomic model that
perpetuates poverty and inequalities.
We
recommend clear regulations to ensure that economic interests are not allowed
to override the greater aim of promoting women’s rights and sustainable
development. The links between gender-based violence and impunity,
militarization, military spending, and the prevalence of small arms must be
addressed if meaningful gains are to be made.
Challenges
in realizing women’s rights persist all over the world, but they are different
in different places. Global goals with meaningful national targets can increase
country ownership and chances of success.
The new
global partnership will involve multiple partners, in this multipolar scenario,
governments and the United Nations must be honest about the regulations
necessary to hold corporations to account for violations such as land grabbing,
worker exploitation and corruption. Extraterritorial obligations, as elaborated
in the Maastricht Principles, should be used as the foundation for facilitating
good governance in the context of any new global partnership for the
realization of women’s rights, gender equality and sustainable development.
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