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No Empowerment without Rights, No Rights without Politics: Gender-equality, MDGs and the post-2015 Development Agenda

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  • Gita Sen
  • Avanti Mukherjee

Abstract

The main argument of this paper is that progress towards gender equality and women's empowerment in the development agenda requires a human rights-based approach, and requires support for the women's movement to activate and energize the agenda. Both are missing from Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3. Empowerment requires agency along multiple dimensions-sexual, reproductive, economic, political, and legal. However, MDG 3 frames women's empowerment as reducing educational disparities. By omitting other rights and not recognizing the multiple interdependent and indivisible human rights of women, the goal of empowerment is distorted and "development silos" are created. Women's organizations are key actors in pushing past such distortions and silos at all levels, and hence crucial to pushing the gender equality agenda forward. However, the politics of agenda setting also influences funding priorities such that financial support for women's organizations and for substantive women's empowerment projects is limited. To re-focus the post-2015 Development Agenda around human rights, we conclude by outlining an approach of issue-based goals and people-focused targets, which makes substantive space for civil society including women's rights organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Gita Sen & Avanti Mukherjee, 2014. "No Empowerment without Rights, No Rights without Politics: Gender-equality, MDGs and the post-2015 Development Agenda," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2-3), pages 188-202, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:15:y:2014:i:2-3:p:188-202
    DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2014.884057
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    1. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr & Alicia Ely Yamin & Joshua Greenstein, 2014. "The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of Millennium Development Goal Targets for Human Development and Human Rights," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2-3), pages 105-117, July.
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    8. Ali Ibrahim Abbas & Ku Hasnita Binti Ku Samsu & Adlina Binti AB Halim & Mohammed Bashir Saidu, 2018. "Education Development Goals (EDGs) and Socio-economic Democratic Consolidation: Reflections on Regime¡¯s Mandates, Objectives, Agendas, and Targets in Yobe State, Nigeria," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 5(1), pages 128-147, January.
    9. Huda Al Mulhem & Khadija El Alaoui & Maura A. E. Pilotti, 2023. "A Sustainable Academic Journey in the Middle East: An Exploratory Study of Female College Students’ Self-Efficacy and Perceived Social Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Joseph Keneck‐Massil & Iliassou Nkariepoun‐Njoya & Bernard Clery Nomo‐Beyala, 2024. "Does women's political empowerment matter in military spending?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(2), pages 316-350, May.
    11. Yamin, Alicia Ely & Bazile, Junior & Knight, Lucia & Molla, Mitike & Maistrellis, Emily & Leaning, Jennifer, 2015. "Tracing shadows: How gendered power relations shape the impacts of maternal death on living children in sub Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 143-150.
    12. Varsha Pillai & Munmun Ghosh, 2022. "Indian female Twitter influencers’ perceptions of trolls," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    13. Karim Henide & Zaryab Ahmar, 2023. "Isolating the female agency-driven development factor in external sovereign emerging market debt," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Vinny Flaviana Hyunanda & José Palacios Ramírez & Gabriel López-Martínez & Víctor Meseguer-Sánchez, 2021. "State Ibuism and Women’s Empowerment in Indonesia: Governmentality and Political Subjectification of Chinese Benteng Women," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    15. Nancy Y. Kim & Yoorim Bang & Eun Mee Kim, 2022. "Women’s Empowerment Without Power: Strategic v. Practical Interests in SDGs and the Voluntary National Reviews," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(3), pages 371-389, June.
    16. Stavros Kalogiannidis & Christina-Ioanna Papadopoulou & Efstratios Loizou & Fotios Chatzitheodoridis, 2023. "Risk, Vulnerability, and Resilience in Agriculture and Their Impact on Sustainable Rural Economy Development: A Case Study of Greece," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, June.
    17. Sheldon, Hannah & Shwachman Kaminaga, Allison, 2023. "What's in a name? Property titling and women's empowerment in Benin," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    18. Raphael J. Nawrotzki & Verena Gantner & Jana Balzer & Thomas Wencker & Sabine Brüntrup-Seidemann, 2022. "Strategic Allocation of Development Projects in Post-Conflict Regions: A Gender Perspective for Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    19. Sundström, Aksel & Paxton, Pamela & Wang, Yi-Ting & Lindberg, Staffan I., 2017. "Women’s Political Empowerment: A New Global Index, 1900–2012," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 321-335.
    20. Suneeta Dhar, 2018. "Gender and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 25(1), pages 47-78, February.

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