Publication: “Gender Inequality and the MDGs: What are the Missing Dimensions?”

In view of the MDG summit in New York next week, this paper sheds light on the bottlenecks that continue to hinder progress across all the MDG targets. Using the OECD Development Centre’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), our research finds that the countries with the highest levels of discrimination against women are also those performing most poorly across the range of MDG targets. By focusing on MDGs 1, 2 and 5, our results show that women’s lack of control over resources, their limited decision-making power and status in the family and household, and the violence that compromises their physical security will continue to be obstacles to the achievement of the MDGs over the next five years. In short, discrimination against women appears to matter.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/56/45987065.pdf