Women’s empowerment and gender equality in the post-2015 framework

This is a background paper for the Addressing Inequalities Global Thematic Consultation for the post-2015 development agenda. Based on learning from MDG3, existing research, and the experiences of GADN members, authors Jessica Woodroffe and Sharon Smee of the UK Gender and Development Network (GADN) argue that, without a strong and explicit focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, the post-2015 framework will fail to achieve the social transformations required to eradicate poverty and empower the people who are most excluded.

They see the necessity for a twin-track approach to address structural gender inequalities: a stand-alone goal on gender equality, together with mainstreaming gender across the framework. They emphasise that a standalone goal on gender is essential to foster the political will, resources and national ownership needed to create sustainable and effective action. The authors also explain the importance of transformative targets that reflect lasting change in the power and choices women have. Political will and technical capacity should be directed toward making data available to measure these targets.

Specific recommendations are made for ensuring that gender equality remains an international priority in the post-2015 framework, and that the energy and investment expended to date is not wasted. They include the following:

- Focus on the most marginalised people in society, recognising that the majority of these people are women and girls.
- Reflect an understanding that women’s poverty is, in part, a result of their socially enforced gender roles and relations and that without specifically addressing the causes of gender inequality women’s poverty will persist.
- Gender equality and women’s empowerment should be mainstreamed throughout the framework by: agreeing specific targets under each goal that reflect the gender barriers women and girls face and attempt to tackle the structural causes; developing gender sensitive indicators, based primarily on need rather than availability of data; and substantially increasing the availability of sex-disaggregated data.


Additional information:
More gender resources related to the Global Thematic Consultation on Addressing Inequalities in the post-2015 development agenda can be found at: http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/268948/folder/134342