The MDGs have been criticised because of their conservatism on gender issues, as their objectives do not demand changes in fundamental areas such as reproductive health, carefulness, violence or respect for sexual preferences. The new goals proposed seem more ambitious, although we still do not know what they would mean in practice. Gender has to be a perspective integrated to the other objectives of sustainable development. We have to understand that being able to break gender stereotypes and their associated roles is necessary to get rid of the great social, political and economic inequalities we face. (Read paper)
Jelke Boesten is Reader in Gender and Development at the International Development Institute, King’s College London. Her latest book, Sexual Violence During War and Peace: Gender, Power and Post-conflict Justice in Peru was published by Palgrave in 2014, and is in print in translation with the Bibliotéca Nacional del Perú. In 2010 she published Intersecting Inequalities: Women and Social Policy in Peru, with Penn State University Press. She has published widely on gender justice in Peru in international journals and books, as well as on gender, HIV/AIDS and activism in East Africa.