Development in an Insecure and Gendered World: The Relevance of the Millennium Goals

The Millennium Declaration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. Specific targets were set to address key problems in human development that should be eradicated by 2015. This collection does not address all of these goals but focuses on gender issues that are specifically problematic for women. The most relevant and contentious is that of promoting gender equality and empowering women but the other goals directly affect women. It provides an overview of this but also investigates literature that considers how gender is central to achieving the other goals. Furthermore, the contributors distinctively consider gender in the context of human security (or insecurity). The reduction and elimination of conflict would seem to be central to achieving targets. One of the major themes of this collection is whether gender insecurity has exacerbated in an increasing insecure world. This book considers not only military and civilian conflict in the contemporary era but also security in the broader sense of human development, such as environmental, reproductive and economic security.