Development Goal1

Gender equality and women’sempowerment is the third of eightMDGs. It is an intrinsic rather than an instrumental goal, explicitly valued as an end in itself rather than as an instrument for achieving other goals. Important as education is, the translation of this goal into the target of eliminating gender disparities at all levels of education within a given time period is disappointingly narrow. However, the indicators to monitor progress in achieving the goal are somewhat more wide-ranging: • closing the gender gap in education at all levels; • increasing women’s share of wage employment in the non-agricultural sector; • and increasing the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments. In this article, I interpret this as meaning that each of the three ‘resources ’ implied by these indicators – education, employment, and political participation – is considered essential to the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Each of these resources certainly has the potential to bring about positive changes in women’s lives, but, in each case, it is the social relationships that govern access to the resource in question that will determine the extent to which this potential is realised. Thus, in each case, there is both positive and negative evidence about the impact of women’s access to these resources on their lives. There are lessons to be learned from both. The article also considers some of the other ‘resources ’ that have been overlooked by the MDGs, but could be considered equally important for the goal in question. Conceptualising empowerment: agency, resources, and achievement First, however, it is important to clarify what is implied by ‘empowerment ’ in this article. One way of thinking about power is in terms of the ability to make choices. To be disempowered means to be denied choice, while empowerment refers to the processes by which those who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such an ability. In other words, empowerment entails Gender equality and women’s empowerment: a critical analysis of the third Millenniu