The Millennium Development Goals Report Gender Chart 2012

The biennial Gender Chart, an addendum to the Millennium Development Goals Report, depicts the situation of women and girls in developing regions with indicators used to monitor the MDGs. It is divided into eight sections – one for each goal. Although some progress has been made in a number of the gender dimensions, more needs to be done in every country and at every level to reduce persistently high levels of inequality based on sex. The following are some of the findings:

Goal 1: Globally, women continue to be more likely to live in poverty than men.

Goal 2: More children are in school, but gender gaps still exist. Little progress has been made since the 1990s in closing secondary attendance gender gaps.

Goal 3: There are large gender gaps in business ownership. Women continue to gain representation in parliaments, but the pace of change is slow.

Goal 4: Under-five girls are more likely to survive than boys, except in Southern Asia where, in some countries, mortality rates still reflect practices related to son preference.

Goal 5: Age at the time of first marriage is rising, but women in poor and rural areas continue to marry young. During childbirth, urban rich women are much more likely to be assisted by a skilled health professional.

Goal 6: Every year, more than one in five new HIV infections take place among young women.

Goal 7: Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind the rest of world in access to water. Where water sources are not readily accessible, women and girls often bear the burden of collection.

Goal 8: While the total amount of bilateral sector-allocable aid has increased, the proportion devoted to gender equality objectives has stalled. Because of the crosscutting nature of the gender goal, assistance to gender programmes should be increased in order to pave the way for attainment of the MDGs.

The Gender Chart was co-produced by UN Women and the UN Statistics Division for the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDGs Indicators.

Additional information:

An audio interview with UN Women’s Laura Turquet and the United Nations’ Keiko Osaki Tomita regarding the 2012 Gender Chart can be heard at: https://soundcloud.com/un-women/2012-mdg-gender-chart