3rd Millennium Development Goal
The third Millennium Development Goal is to promote gender equality and empower women by the year 2015. One of the main parts of this goal is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education (UN MDGs). However, in order to do this the first goal, end poverty and hunger, must also be accomplished. Poverty is a major barrier to women who must choose between giving what little money they have to either their family or their education. Some countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia, have given more rights to women who are now active in the workforce and able to serve as CEOs (Otas 2011). Nevertheless, most African women are not able to work and are sexually assaulted as acts of war (Otas 2011). Women around the world are not equipped with the resources and finances they need to support the family of which they take care (THP). While women are treated as equals in most developed countries, the extremely poor and suffering countries do not treat women with the respect and equality they deserve. Not only are women not treated equally all over the world, but they also make up the majority of the poor population (THP). One of the first steps to achieving gender equality is to create more income for women. Two-thirds of women are illiterate because they are not able to go to school, which then prevents them to be able to acquire a job and provide for their family (THP). Women are not only treated unequally in the work and
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household environments, but they are also the main carriers of HIV/AIDS (THP). In most South African countries, of all the young people living with this disease, three-fourths of them are women (THP). All of these statistics prove that gender inequality must be a sole focus of governments all over the world and a top priority of small towns with women. All of society benefits when women are empowered, treated as equals and able to provide for their family (THP). The families become healthier, agricultural productivity and income increases,
Bibliography: 1. "Empowering Women as Key Change Agents | The Hunger Project." Empowering Women and Men to End Their Own Hunger | The Hunger Project. The Hunger Project. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. <http://www.thp.org/what_we_do/program_overview/empowering_women>.
2. Otas, Belinda. "To Empower African Women, Turn Words into Action - CNN." Featured Articles from CNN. 08 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. <http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-08/opinion/otas.africa.gender.inequality_1_gender-equality-international-women-s-day-african-women?_s=PM:OPINION>.
3. "United Nations Millennium Development Goals." Welcome to the United Nations: It 's Your World. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. <http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/gender.shtml>.