Introduction

Poverty has a woman's face. Global prosperity and peace will only be achieved once all the world's people are empowered to order their own lives and provide for themselves and their families. Societies where women are more equal stand a much greater chance of achieving the Millennium Goals by 2015. Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies were women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner.

The Targets

Goal 3 of the Millennium Development Goals sets out by the year 2015 to:

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.

Did You Know?

Of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world, 70% are women. (Source: World Revolution)
Women do about 66% of the world's work in return for less than 5% of its income. (Source: Women's International Network)
In the least developed countries nearly twice as many women over age 15 are illiterate compared to men. (Source: UNFPA)
Two-thirds of children denied primary education are girls, and 75% of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women. (Source: AskWoman)
Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, produce half of the world's food, and yet earn only 10% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the world's property. (Source :World Development Indicators, 1997, Womankind Worldwide)