Missing the Mark?

"In the year 2000, United Nations world leaders set out eight targets, the UN Millennium Development Goals, for achieving improved standards of living at the micro level in poorer nations around the globe, by the year 2015. The papers in this collection present fine-detailed ethnographic studies of cultures in Africa and Oceania, with a focus primarily on MDG 3, targeted to "promote gender equality and empower women and MDG 5, targeted to "improve maternal health" to ascertain whether or not these goals have made or missed their mark. We choose MDG 3 and 5 because these goals imply one another; in other words, gender equality and women's empowerment are necessary components for any improvement in maternal and reproductive health. Our ethnographic case studies are located in Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Malawi, Cameroon, and South Ethiopia. Rather than present these as self-contained regional case studies, we show that women in these cultures, regardless of nation state, face the same issues or problems-lack of empowerment, gender inequities, and inadequate access to cultural or state resources-to realize good health in general and good maternal and reproductive health, in particular. As this volume went to press, the 2000-2015 MDGs closed and the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-2030 were being decided. So far, 17 macro level goals are proposed and, while it could be argued that these goals-from climate change to sustainable energy, to conservation of forests and oceans, to achieving world peace-all affect women's lives, only SDG 5, "achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls," specifically mentions women."--