Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls must be a central
ambition of a post-2015 agenda. Although some progress has been made
under the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework, one in
three women are still affected by gender-based violence and around 800
women die every day as a result of childbirth and other pregnancy-related
complications. In order to address the persistent and interlinked barriers and
challenges that women continue to face in their everyday lives a new
development framework must promote gender equality as a human right. It
must also seek to address the underlying structural causes of gender inequality
by incorporating gender-specific targets across all goals

Brody, Alyson

Corbett, Hannah

English

IDS OpenDocs

Progress under the current framework
Evidence indicates that MDG3 to promote gender
equality and empowerment has galvanised efforts
at a national and international level around the
implementation of policies and programmes to
tackle discrimination and help empower women
and girls. This has resulted in a greater focus on
addressing women and girls’ needs and on
reducing the gender gap, particularly in education
and governance.
Yet despite this, 800 women die every day due
to childbirth and other pregnancy-related
complications and one in three women are
affected by gender-based violence in their
lifetime. Women continue to be paid between
10 and 30 per cent less than men in jobs that are
insecure and fall outside the protection of the
law. They also shoulder the majority of the
burden of unpaid care work. They remain under-
represented in decision-making processes at all
levels and only one in five legislators are women.
Failure of the current MDG framework to
articulate gender equality as a human right and
also to reflect the multidimensional nature of
women and girls’ experiences of inequalities and
poverty has undoubtedly limited progress. This has
been compounded by the inadequacies of broader
development policies which are driven by an
unsustainable neo-liberal economic model and
largely premised on the low-paid labour of women.
Opportunity for a new approach
The post-2015 agenda offers a real opportunity for
governments, communities and civil society,
particularly women’s movements, to work
together to bring about a transformative change
in the everyday lives of women and girls. In order to
achieve this, a new framework must address the
underlying structural causes of gender inequality.
The recently published post-2015 High Level Panel
report went some way in articulating the necessary
shift in approach through its call to leave no one
behind. It proposed a stand-alone goal for gender
equality and empowerment and also called for
gender to be made a cross cutting issue. 
While these proposals are welcome, a more radical
approach needs to be adopted if real and
sustainable change is to be achieved for women
and girls. The post-2015 development framework
must be driven by a rights-based agenda and move
away from the current emphasis on economic
growth. Targets need to include women and girls’
rights to equal access to decent work with
equitable pay and good working conditions,
primary and secondary education, as well as access
to land rights and assets. They also need to
promote women and girls’ rights to voice and
influence at individual, household, community,
national and global levels. 
Women and girls, particularly the poorest and
most marginalised, must have a say in the design
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ISSUE 43 • AUGUST 2013
Achieving Gender Equality
Through a Post-2015
Framework
Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls must be a central
ambition of a post-2015 agenda. Although some progress has been made
under the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework, one in
three women are still affected by gender-based violence and around 800
women die every day as a result of childbirth and other pregnancy-related
complications. In order to address the persistent and interlinked barriers and
challenges that women continue to face in their everyday lives a new
development framework must promote gender equality as a human right. It
must also seek to address the underlying structural causes of gender inequality
by incorporating gender-specific targets across all goals.
AFTER THE MDGS
IDS POLICY ANALYSIS
www.ids.ac.uk
and implementation of a new
development agenda so it accurately
reflects their needs and realities. Better
participation alongside improved data and
a more nuanced system of quantitative and
qualitative measures will also help
underpin clearer and stronger mechanisms
of accountability. It will also be important
to build upon the momentum created by
the current MDGs to achieve the
necessary levels of national and
international political will and financial
resources to realise gender equality and
greater empowerment. Crucially, the new
framework must also address the gender
dimensions of other goals by embedding
relevant targets across the framework.
Policy recommendations 
To ensure that a post-2015 framework helps to achieve gender equality and women
and girls’ empowerment it should:
• Articulate gender equality as a human right.
• Include a stand-alone goal on gender equality and women and girls’
empowerment which incorporates specific targets on gender violence, decent
work and employment rights, access to land and assets, education and tackling
discrimination. 
• Every post 2015 goal should include at least one relevant target on gender
equality in order to reflect the multidimensional nature of inequalities and
poverty that women and girls experience. For example, a water and sanitation
goal should include a target on the provision of adequate water, sanitation and
hygiene facilities in all primary and secondary schools to meet the needs of
female students and staff.
• Require sex and age disaggregated data for all goals, and should take disability
and other forms of disadvantage into account. It should use both qualitative and
quantitative evidence to measure progress against indicators, to provide a more
nuanced picture which reflects changes in attitudes of women and men, shifts
in social norms and the quality of women’s participation in decision-making.
• Reinforce and complement other relevant frameworks including the Convention
on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights. 
• Be underpinned by adequate financial resources that have been allocated as part
of gender budgeting processes employed by donors and national governments,
and to which they can be held accountable.
Further reading
A New Global Partnership: Eradicate
poverty and transform economies through
sustainable development. The Report of
the High-Level Panel of Eminent
Persons on the Post-2015
Development Agenda (2013)
http://www.un.org/sg/management/
pdf/HLP_P2015_Report.pdf
Smee, S. and Woodroffe, J. (2013)
Achieving Gender Equality and Women’s
Empowerment in the Post-2015
Framework, UK: Gender and
Development Network
http://www.gadnetwork.org.uk/gadn-
post-2015-report/
Post 2015 Women’s Coalition: a
coalition of women’s rights, women’s
development, grassroots and social
justice organisations working to
challenge and reframe the global
development agenda.
http://www.post2015women.com
Gender and the Post 2015 Framework:
Key messages from a New York multi-
stakeholder roundtable (2013)
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/go/home&
id=65109&type=Document&langID=1
A Transformative Stand-Alone Goal on
Achieving Gender Equality, Women's
Rights and Women's Empowerment:
Imperatives and Key Components. 
UN Women (2013)
http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-
library/publications
Authorship
This IDS Policy Briefing was written by
BRIDGE Manager and Senior Gender
Convenor, Alyson Brody and IDS Public
Affairs Officer, Hannah Corbett. It is
based on a policy note which was the
main outcome of a roundtable co-hosted
by BRIDGE/Institute of Development
Studies, the Permanent Mission of
Switzerland to the United Nations and
the South African Government during
the 57th session of the United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women.
The roundtable was attended by around
70 people, comprising members of
government, UN agencies and missions,
non-governmental organisations,
women’s rights networks and academic
institutions from across the world.
The opinions expressed are those of
the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of IDS. Readers are
encouraged to quote and reproduce
material from issues of IDS Policy
Briefings in their own publication. IDS
requests due acknowledgement and
quotes to be referenced as above.
© Institute of Development Studies, 2013
ISSN 1479-974X
IDS Policy Briefings are published by the Institute of Development Studies and aim to provide high quality
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IDS POLICY BRIEFING ISSUE 43 • AUGUST 2013 www.ids.ac.uk


Achieving Gender Equality Through a Post-2015 Framework

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Achieving Gender Equality Through a Post-2015 Framework

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