A scan of 13 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) country reports shows that gender equality concerns are inadequately mainstreamed. They are confined to Goal 3 (gender equality), Goal 5 (maternal mortality) and Goal 6 (HIV/AIDS). In turn, the rights-based language often used under Goal 3 is lost under other goals where women feature in their traditional roles as mothers and as victims. This is further confirmed by their absence under Goal 7 (environment) and Goal 8 (development cooperation).
BRIDGE is a specialised gender and development research and information service based in the Gender and Sexuality Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), in the UK. As part of a global network of individuals and organisations working to advance gender equality, women’s rights, dignity and empowerment in development, we advocate for the crucial importance of a gender perspective in efforts to reduce poverty and promote social justice. BRIDGE is committed to making multilingual gender knowledge accessible outside the research community and to building bridges and dialogue between researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.