World leaders have promised women betterIn the year 2000, 189 world leaders pledged

to achieve the Millennium Development Goals

— a set of 8 benchmarks to eradicate extreme

poverty, achieve universal primary education,

promote gender equality and empower women,

reduce child mortality, improve maternal health,

combat major diseases, ensure environmental

sustainability and develop a global partnership

for development by the year 2015. But progress

is moving too slowly to meet the deadline.

World leaders have made the least progress on

their promises to women.

Governments have the resources to keep their

promises to women. But not the political will. In

many countries, the unequal status of women

extends to government policy, where women’s

pressing needs are given very little priority.

This is unacceptable. And it is up to us to tell

our leaders in no uncertain terms that we expect

them to make decisions based not on their own

narrow interests but on the needs of women and

all vulnerable citizens.

We must demand that they create a world where

poverty and hunger are the exception, where every

girl goes to school and where women no longer die

in childbirth. This world is possible. The Millennium

Development Goals offer a roadmap to get us there.

Poverty has a female face

Seventy percent of the world’s poor are women

and children. The economic crisis that began in

2008 is expected to have more devastating long

term effects for women. According to UNICEF,

women perform 66 percent of the world’s work

— both paid and unpaid — but earn 10 percent

of the world’s income and access 1 percent of the

world’s resources, including land and credit.

Women continue to die while giving life

The number one killer of young women in the

developing world is not a disease whose cure

eludes us, or a condition which the world lacks the

resources to treat. It is pregnancy and childbirth.

Every year, 500,000 women die while trying to

give life. That’s one every single minute. The vast

majority of these deaths are preventable.

What can we do about it?

Governments make promises all the time. It’s up

to us to demand that they deliver. Movements

such as the campaigns for civil rights in America

and against apartheid in South Africa have shown

the world that peaceful action of the masses

can reverse the course of history, no matter how

entrenched the status quo may seem.

The United Nations Millennium Campaign and

our partners support citizens to find platforms to

send the message to decision makers that women

will no longer stand by and accept the ongoing

discrimination and abuse of women throughout

the world — particularly those women with the

least resources and recourse.

We demand that decision makers prioritize the

needs of women and put them front and center

in all policy and budget actions and ensure that

women have equal access to health, education

and employment opportunities.

With just five years until the 2015 deadline

for achieving the Millennium Development

Goals, it is critical for citizens to pressure their

governments to deliver. Each October, millions

of citizens, in countries all across the world,

join together to take part in the “Stand Up and

Take Action” mobilization to demand that world

leaders eradicate extreme poverty and achieve

the Millennium Development Goals. The event

holds the Guinness World Record for the largest

mobilization of human beings in recorded history.

With the Millennium Development Goals that aim

to achieve gender equality and improve maternal

health making the least progress, “Stand Up” is

increasingly focusing on the empowerment of

women and excluded groups. Women across

the world are mobilizing to demand that their

governments match the promises they made in

the year 2000 with action.

Will you stand with us?

For more information on “Stand Up and Take

Action” and to find an event near you, visit

www.standagainstpoverty.org.

World leaders have failed to deliver for Women

Monica aMollo chendraMMa

noorjahanawabu iddrisu

MONICA AMOllO (top left) is a woman on a mission. After being told she won a

Parliamentary election in Kenya and then seeing her seat handed to a male opponent,

Monica organized the first-ever public anti-poverty rally in Kenya’s Nyanza province,

where women spoke about being sexually harassed on lake Victoria while trying

to access fish — their main means of livelihood. The women petitioned their local

authorities, and police immediately began cracking down on harassment. Today,

women in the area are able to work with a greater sense of security.

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ChENDRAMMA (top right), a 48 year-old poor tribal woman from India’s lowest caste,

spearheaded public rallies during “Stand Up” in 2008 and organized a human chain to

demand fair, equal and productive employment opportunities. Taking inspiration from

the massive mobilization, anti-poverty campaigners filed a Public Interest litigation

in the high Court of Andhra Pradesh, demanding wages in line with the country’s

Minimum Wages Act. The effort culminated in great success when on July 3, 2009, the

State Government revised wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee

Act as per the demands of the citizens.

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“We got a chance to raise our voices and speak out in a public rally organized in a

prominent place of the city … Finally, because we as a village spoke out and made

ourselves heard, changes are happening in our lives.”

— NOORJAhAN (bottom right), an illiterate, Muslim woman from India’s lowest

caste, who participated in “Stand Up” in 2008 to protest the lack of health services in

her village of Badarpur Khadar. The local health department is now sending a mobile

health van to the village twice a week.

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“‘Stand Up’ gives us a fantastic platform to address our leaders face-to-face to

demand what belongs to us and get a sense of satisfaction that we are playing a

part in Ghana’s development. It’s the only time that grassroots women like me get an

opportunity to address their leaders directly.”

— AWABU IDDRISU (bottom left), a gender activist in Ghana’s Naleirigu district

Women chanGinG their Worlds

The UN Millennium Campaign was established by former UN Secretary General

Kofi Annan in 2002. The Campaign supports citizens’ efforts to hold their

governments to account for the achievement of the Millennium Development

Goals. The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by 189 world leaders

from rich and poor countries, as part of the Millennium Declaration which

was signed in 2000. These leaders agreed to achieve the Goals by 2015. Our

premise is simple: we are the first generation that can end poverty and we

refuse to miss this opportunity.

the United nations millenniUm camPaiGn

www.endpoverty2015.org www.standagainstpoverty.org