How do we achieve global gender equity?
In 2000, the member states of the United Nations adopted eight Millennium Development Goals to be met by 2015. The goals are designed to help the poorest countries in the world and include benchmarks on environmental sustainability, combating HIV/AIDS and reducing child mortality. One of the goals is to “promote gender equality and empower women.” The fact that gender equality made this list of eight goals approved by the worldwide community speaks volumes. Economists have long argued that women play a key role in lifting a nation out of poverty, yet the traditions and religions in the developing world have often blocked their progress. Young girls are rarely allowed to complete their education before beginning work or families, and as a result, two-thirds of the world’s illiterate are women [source: