World leaders have been at the UN in New York this week to assess, and hopefully breathe new life into, efforts to achieve the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Most of the goals are in danger of being missed. Is there a way to jumpstart efforts to make the deadline by 2015?Gender may hold part of the answer. The third goal explicitly aims to “promote gender equality and empower women” (MDG3), but research by the OECD Development Centre suggests that gender issues have a direct and profound impact on several other MDG targets. Tackling gender would help reach other goals too.
