Gender Equality and Women Empowerment
Research and Literature Review Assignment
8th Semester
Department of Family Medicine
Scoring the Third Goal
A commentary on Nepal’s efforts to promote gender equality and empower women
Posan Samser Limbu
R. N. 593
MBBS, 2005
BPKIHS
The once mystical women have fallen from being worshipped as goddesses and possessors of the mystery of child birth1 to mere child bearers. If females are the oppressed among humans, perhaps they can take heart from the fact that failing to escape after mating, the male gets eaten by the bigger and stronger female black widow spider.2 The strong oppress the weak which is in concordance with the laws of nature, and the same goes for humans. But humans are supposed to be at least a cut above the other animals. They are supposed to care for the weak and protect them from harm. Women, generally weaker physically than the men, are supposed to be taken care of by their men. This attitude, while embracing the highest ideal of humanity is fundamentally wrong in that women are assumed weaker and this assumption extends to not just being weak physically but in all other areas, and sows the seeds of discrimination. It has been a challenge to the humans to figure out a way for two vastly unequal groups to live as equals.
In a bid to tackle the gender inequality issue and other problems plaguing humans, representatives from 189 countries met in September 2000 at the Millennium Summit in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The leaders made specific commitments in seven areas: peace, security and disarmament; development and poverty eradication; protecting our common environment, human rights, democracy and good governance; protecting the vulnerable; meeting the special needs of Africa; and strengthening the United Nations. The Road Map established goals and targets to be reached by year 2015 in each of the seven areas. The goals in the area of development and poverty eradication are now widely referred to as “Millennium
8th Semester
Department of Family Medicine
Scoring the Third Goal
A commentary on Nepal’s efforts to promote gender equality and empower women
Posan Samser Limbu
R. N. 593
MBBS, 2005
BPKIHS
The once mystical women have fallen from being worshipped as goddesses and possessors of the mystery of child birth1 to mere child bearers. If females are the oppressed among humans, perhaps they can take heart from the fact that failing to escape after mating, the male gets eaten by the bigger and stronger female black widow spider.2 The strong oppress the weak which is in concordance with the laws of nature, and the same goes for humans. But humans are supposed to be at least a cut above the other animals. They are supposed to care for the weak and protect them from harm. Women, generally weaker physically than the men, are supposed to be taken care of by their men. This attitude, while embracing the highest ideal of humanity is fundamentally wrong in that women are assumed weaker and this assumption extends to not just being weak physically but in all other areas, and sows the seeds of discrimination. It has been a challenge to the humans to figure out a way for two vastly unequal groups to live as equals.
In a bid to tackle the gender inequality issue and other problems plaguing humans, representatives from 189 countries met in September 2000 at the Millennium Summit in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The leaders made specific commitments in seven areas: peace, security and disarmament; development and poverty eradication; protecting our common environment, human rights, democracy and good governance; protecting the vulnerable; meeting the special needs of Africa; and strengthening the United Nations. The Road Map established goals and targets to be reached by year 2015 in each of the seven areas. The goals in the area of development and poverty eradication are now widely referred to as “Millennium
References: 2. "Black Widow Spider." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.